The Ghost of Oak Haven
by Scoobyfan1
Summary: A retelling of "Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost", but with a few differences in plot and dialogue; this is also a sort of sequel to my previous story "Shaggy's Magical Mystery" as well. A lot of Shelma in addition to a lot of Fraphne as well.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2010 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. This story is partly based on the movie "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost". This story has dialogue, similar plot lines, and same characters from the movie; this also will have spoilers, if you have not seen the movie.

Author's Notes #2: The events of this story take place after the events of my previous Scooby Fan Fic "Shaggy's Magical Mystery"; also this story is sort of a sequel to that story as well and if none of the events in this story make any sense to readers, please go back and read that story as a primer.

Chapter 1

Our story opens inside a large museum somewhere on the east coast; a distinguished looking balding man holds a thick folder with dozens of papers inside it, he walks somewhat quickly down the hallway, his footsteps echoing through the building.

As the man walks down the hallway he passes several displays; one with a young man and young woman in Renaissance style costumes, one with a young girl in a roman style dress feeding grapes to a statue which looked to be Julius Caesar and one with a caveman and a saber-toothed tiger.

What he doesn't know is that the members of Mystery Inc. are a part of each of the displays: Fred and Daphne in the Renaissance display, Velma in the Roman display while Shaggy and Scooby are in the caveman display.

The man continues walking through the museum and looking quite nervous, he makes his way past the display with Velma who puts on her glasses after he walks by; next he walks by Fred and Daphne's display and afterwards they look out into the hallway, finally he makes his way into the room with the caveman display where Shaggy and Scooby are.

Suddenly the man stops in his tracks, looking as if someone or something frightened him.

"I-is someone there?" the man asks nervously.

The man slowly stepped backwards towards one of the displays, and as fate would have it after backing into one of the displays, accidentally pressed a small button located in the front of it with his backside, which caused said display to activate which caused the man to scream; unfortunately for him though, he also dropped the papers he was carrying.

A recorded voice then spoke about the exhibit and the man realized that there was really nothing to be afraid of, so he began picking up the stack of papers, which he had dropped and prepared to go on his way.

"I really must switch to decaf" the man remarked as he shook his head before retrieving the papers he dropped.

Suddenly out of the line of sight of the man, two mummy cases on the other side of the room began to open slowly; while the man who was picking up the papers didn't notice this, the two disguised members of Mystery Inc. who were in the cave man exhibit: Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo noticed what was going on and prepared for what was going to happen next.

As each of the cases opened Shaggy and Scooby saw what looked to be two Egyptian mummies with piercing green eyes and holding what looked to be some kind of ancient weapons slowly walked and into the room, in fact the pair of creatures slowly walked behind the man which caused the normally cowardly sleuth and teen warlock to alert the man of the impending danger.

"Professor, look behind you!" Shaggy declared.

The man was a little startled of the fact that one of the museum exhibits was talking to him, but once he saw the two mummies attempting to make Swiss cheese out of him, he didn't care; in fact the man quickly ran out of the way of the two creatures, while Shaggy and Scooby prepared to put their plan to capture the fearsome looking pair into action.

"Okay Scooby, ready?" Shaggy asked.

"Ready Rhaggy" the Great Dane replied.

"All right, here goes nothing" Shaggy remarked; the cowardly teen then aimed his hand towards the ceiling, as a result of this a mysterious green glow surrounded the area which included a large net and as a result of the teen's command it dropped right onto the mummies, trapping them for the moment.

"Like terrific, our plan worked Scoob!" Shaggy said as he high fived the Great Dane.

Unfortunately for Shaggy and Scooby the magical net didn't last very long and the mummies used their weapons to cut their way through it; a few seconds later they walked over to the cowardly pair and tapped them on the shoulder, and as the two saw the villains faces up close they did what they usually would do in that situation.

"Zoinks! Like I thought my magic would stop those creeps!" Shaggy remarked.

"Ri ruess rhey ridn't ret the memo" Scooby replied.

"Well like there's one thing I can do even without magic in these types of situations: run!" Shaggy exclaimed.

The cowardly teen and his Great Dane then split from the room, down the hallway with the mummies hot on their trail; after a few minutes of running, the cowardly pair passed the Renaissance exhibit with Fred and Daphne still in it; inside the exhibit the pair of sleuths saw that their friends were in trouble and decided to leave the exhibit room and meet Velma in order to help their friends.

A few minutes more passed and after a quick change of clothes Fred, Daphne and Velma saw that Shaggy and Scooby were still being chased by the two mummies; however, even though Shaggy was running from a monster as usual, he was at least still able to use some of the spells he had learned and every so often would aim his hand at items in the hallway which as a result of his magical commands would fly towards the mummies, but whatever the teen warlock tried it was always unsuccessful, so Shaggy and Scooby continued running through the museum, still being chased by the two villains.

Eventually the pair of cowardly sleuths made their way into a room filled with middle Ages artifacts, which the pair figured was a great place to finally trap the two mummies once and for all, so once Shaggy and Scooby saw the creatures they attempted to get them to chase them.

"Hey mummies! Like bet you can't catch us!" Shaggy yelled.

The mummies growled at this statement and began chasing Shaggy and Scooby through the Middle Ages room once again, however this time the cowardly pair had a sure fire plan that they were sure wouldn't miss: in this case the plan was that Shaggy aimed his hand at a series of suits of armor which he was hoping the mummies would run right into, considering he was using his magic to move the suits of armor to where they would be in the way of the two creatures.

However as the mummies approached the suits of armor someone hiding behind an old tapestry stuck a foot out and as a result the pair of creatures tripped and fell right into the armor and a few other artifacts as well, just like Shaggy and Scooby planned although it wasn't how they were expecting the trap to go, but it worked nonetheless.

A few seconds later Fred turned on a nearby light switch and he, Daphne and Velma along with the man they had seen already and two museum guards entered the room, all smiling ear to ear at the prospect of seeing another pair of villains captured.

"Nice going guys, you caught them" Fred remarked.

"Like thanks Fred, but would you might if I took a few moments while I change my clothes, this loin cloth and wig are a little itchy" Shaggy replied as he scratched his head a little.

"No problem Shaggy, we can wait" Fred responded.

"Cool, come on Scoob" Shaggy replied; he and the Great Dane then walked over to an area of the other side of the room which was hidden by a large red curtain and after seeing that no one was watching them, the cowardly teen warlock waved a hand over himself and Scooby and within a few moments a green glow surrounded them; a few seconds later the glow disappeared and Shaggy was dressed once again in his familiar green shirt, red pants and black shoes, while Scooby's disguise was also taken care of.

Having taken care of their respective wardrobe changes, Shaggy and Scooby then walked back across the room to join the gang which was good timing considering they were about to unmask the pair of creatures.

"Well gang I guess this wraps up another mystery" Fred remarked.

"Yes and I have to admit Shaggy, your magic powers really did come in handy on this case, in fact they're pretty handy altogether" Velma commented.

"Like thanks Velma, that means a lot, but we can't take all the credit, I mean we did have some help" Shaggy remarked; as soon as Shaggy said that a black haired man wearing a dark brown vest, white shirt, brown slacks and black shoes stepped out into the room and joined the gang.

"Who are you sir?' Daphne asked.

"I don't believe it, you're Ben Ravencroft: the famous horror writer!" Velma exclaimed, instantly recognizing the individual.

"Oh yeah, like I've read a few of your novels, I have to admit they're pretty scary" Shaggy added.

"I'm very glad to hear that you like my books Velma and Shaggy" Ben responded with a smile.

"Hey like how do you know my name Mr. Ravencroft?" Shaggy asked.

"And my name?" Velma added.

"Simple, I've been admiring your work unraveling supernatural mysteries for quite some time now Velma and Shaggy; plus I know Fred and Daphne's names as well " Ben explained.

"Raren't rou rorgetting rome one?" Scooby asked.

"Ah yes and I know your name as well Scooby Doo" Ben replied.

"So Mr. Ravencroft what are you doing here anyway?" Fred asked.

"Well, I decided to come here to do some research for my latest novel when I saw the archeologists acting suspiciously; now why don't we see who these two really are," Ben explained.

Ben Ravencroft then walked over to one of the mummies and pulled its mask and helmet off revealing a face that was very familiar to the older man who was walking around earlier.

"It's Hawkins!" the man remarked.

"And Griswold, the two of them were disgruntled archaeologists from the museum's Babylonian project" Velma said as she pulled the mask and helmet off of the other mummy.

"And like they were upset with you because you cut their funding, professor" Shaggy continued.

"I-I had no idea" the professor remarked.

"Yes and we would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that meddling…writer!" the first archaeologist remarked angrily looking towards Ben.

"Like, that's a twist" Shaggy replied.

"Well at least he didn't call us meddling kids, I hate that" Fred commented.

"I guess you beat us to the punch Mr. Ravencroft" Daphne remarked.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to upstage all of you" Ben replied.

"Like that's okay Mr. Ravencroft, plus it was nice to have some assistance in solving a mystery" Shaggy commented.

"Actually I have to agree with you Shaggy, it's great to have someone else on our side, besides the five of us of course" Velma remarked.

"It was no problem at all, and come to think of it I've always wanted to solve a mystery with all of you; like I said previously, I've been a big fan of all of you for years now, I mean the way you five handle and unravel cases is positively inspiring" Ben explained.

"Like, believe me Mr. Ravencroft, what we do is nothing compared to the hundreds of books that you've written" Shaggy replied.

"Absolutely Shaggy, I really think the sheer and palpable fright of your novels is what makes them in my opinion some of the best horror books ever written" Velma remarked.

"Why thank you Velma, you're too kind and I greatly appreciate it" Ben replied.

"Well gang, since Mr. Ravencroft helped us solve a mystery, I think it's only fair that we should ask him to join up with us for a while and see what he would like to do" Fred observed.

"That's a cool idea Fred, like I'm on board, what about you Scoob?" Shaggy asked, turning to his canine companion.

"Reah, rhat rounds rokay to re roo" Scooby replied.

"Well since you two are on board, I'm on board" Velma added.

"Actually I wouldn't mind having Mr. Ravencroft with us for a while, maybe we can tell him about some of our past cases" Daphne commented.

"That sounds like a fun idea, what do you say Mr. Ravencroft?" Fred asked.

"Hmm, I don't see why I couldn't travel with all of you, okay I'll do it and I even have something that you all might enjoy" Ben replied.

"What's that Mr. Ravencroft?" Fred questioned.

"Well, I'm going back to my home town of Oak Haven, Massachusetts for a while, it's quite peaceful; not to mention the fall colors in that part of the country are simply beautiful; I know all of you like taking vacations and if it's all right, I would like to invite you to stay with me while you're in town" Ben explained.

"Jeepers, that sounds terrific Mr. Ravencroft" Daphne replied.

"Like yeah, plus I bet they're be lots of food" Shaggy commented.

"Actually Shaggy, you're in luck; I happen to know a few people in Oak Haven, and one of them owns a local restaurant, which happens to have some of the best food in New England" Ben observed.

"Now that sounds fantastic, what about you Scoob?" Shaggy asked.

"Reah" the Great Dane replied, licking his lips at the thought of the food available in Oak Haven.

"Shaggy, you and Scooby must have the biggest appetites in the world; don't you think of anything else besides food?" Velma asked.

"Well, I think about you a lot" the cowardly teen replied as he looked over at the intelligent teen sleuth and smiled.

"Good point and I'm glad you do" Velma replied as she smiled back at Shaggy.

"So I guess we're all agreed on going to Oak Haven?" Fred asked.

"Right!" Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby agreed.

"Not to mention it will be a nice change from all the spooky mysteries we've had lately" Daphne replied.

"Got that right" Shaggy remarked.

"_Although with my magic, I would have no problem solving mysteries and capturing ghosts and monsters; actually, come to think of it even warlocks need vacations and I'm no different; you know I wonder if Vincent Van Ghoul ever takes vacations, hey maybe I'll ask him one of these days"_ the cowardly teen thought to himself.

"Well now that we know what we're going to do, let's get going" Fred commented.

"Yeah, we've got a long way to go to get to Massachusetts" Daphne added.

"Oh, I almost forgot: if it's okay with you Mr. Ravencroft, I would love to travel with you in your car; besides I would love to discuss all of your novels with you" Velma remarked.

It was then that Shaggy decided to pull Velma aside and talk to her for a few seconds before she left with the famous author.

"Velma, I kind of thought that you would go with the gang and me in the Mystery Machine instead of with Mr. Ravencroft" Shaggy remarked, while scratching his head; clearly he was attempting to speak to the bespectacled teen without saying anything that would cause Velma to think he was jealous of Ben Ravencroft, or for that matter saying anything that would cause Velma to hate him for the rest of her life or worse, to dump him.

"Come on Shaggy, it's not every day you get to talk to and ride in a car with a world famous horror writer, I'm really looking forward to it" Velma commented.

"Oh, alright; just do me one favor Velma" Shaggy remarked, realizing that he didn't want to argue with the intelligent teen in front of the rest of the gang.

"What's that?" Velma asked.

"Have fun and be careful" Shaggy replied.

"I will Shaggy and thank you, I really care a lot about you and don't want anything to happen to you" Velma replied.

"I know you do Velma and I care a lot about you as well, plus I sure wouldn't like anything to happen to you either" Shaggy remarked.

"Thank you Shaggy that means a lot to me" Velma replied.

"Like it means a lot to me too Velma" Shaggy commented.

After a quick exchange of hugs and a kiss between the pair of sleuths, Velma walked out of the museum and into the parking lot with Ben Ravencroft; meanwhile Shaggy and Scooby joined Fred and Daphne as the quartet piled into the Mystery Machine for their trip to Massachusetts.

"Everybody ready to go?" Fred asked.

"All ready Fred" Daphne replied.

"Like Scooby and I are all set to go" Shaggy remarked.

"It's a good thing too, because it looks like Velma and Ben are taking off" Daphne commented.

"Yeah it sure looks like it, well since we're all set let's get going too" Fred explained.

So with that the black roadster belonging to the world famous horror writer Ben Ravencroft left the parking lot of the museum with another passenger inside, in this case Velma, who was still mentally pinching herself that she was getting to ride inside the famous horror writer's own car; a few seconds later the colorfully painted Mystery Machine left the museum parking lot with Fred in the driver's seat, Daphne in the passenger's seat and as usual Shaggy and Scooby in the back of the van, although both of them, but especially Shaggy were a little miserable that the bespectacled teen sleuth wasn't keeping them company in their trip to New England, which would turn out to be one of the most frightening adventures Mystery Inc. ever had; but at the moment none of the sleuths knew what they were in for and it was certain that Shaggy didn't know at the moment that this adventure was going to be one of the first true tests he had to go through since he became a warlock several months before.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The expensive black roadster belonging to the famous horror novelist Ben Ravencroft continued its journey towards the writer's home town of Oakhaven, Massachusetts with the early autumn sunshine beaming down on the sleek and expensive car; inside of the aforementioned vehicle, the driver confidentially guides the automobile towards its intended destination while the car's second passenger, a member of the famous Mystery Inc. detective agency: Velma Dinkley discusses the finer points of the author's numerous books in print; the writer listens patiently and politely nods, agreeing with every statement that the bespectacled teen is making.

Meanwhile about a few hundred feet behind the black roadster, a familiar green and red painted van follows carefully behind the author's car, making sure not to lose track of the roadster; inside the van Fred Jones and Daphne Blake sit in the driver's seat and passenger seat respectively watching the scenery as the Mystery Machine travels along the highway, while in the back portion of the van Scooby Doo also finds himself admiring the beautiful foliage, farms and landscape.

However, there is one member of the group that is neither taking pictures, admiring scenery or driving the Mystery Machine, in this case one Norville "Shaggy" Rogers; at the moment, Shaggy is sitting back with a somewhat miserable look on his face, not noticing much of the landscape that the group is passing through; as the group's cowardly canine looks lover at the cowardly teen sleuth/warlock, he notices this and decides to ask him what's wrong.

"Rhat's the ratter Rhaggy?" Scooby questioned.

"Oh like it's nothing Scooby, it's nothing" Shaggy replied.

Having taken a few snapshots of the stunning scenery Daphne turned her head around to speak with the green shirted sleuth and the group's Great Dane.

"Shaggy, something's up with you; believe me, a girl can tell about these things, so what's going on?" Daphne asked.

"Daphne, it's really no big deal, trust me" Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy, I've known you for a long time, and this isn't like you; you're usually really happy about seeing the beauty of nature, so you can tell me, if something's wrong, so start spilling" Daphne commented, continuing to press the cowardly teen.

"Oh all right, I'll tell you: it's Velma" Shaggy explained, after taking a deep breath.

"Velma?" Daphne asked.

"Velma" Shaggy replied.

"What about her?" Daphne wondered.

"Well, if you must know, I'm a little upset about her not being here; I mean why did she want to go with Ben Ravencroft instead of us?" Shaggy thought aloud.

"So Velma wants to go with Mr. Ravencroft, it's not such a big deal… wait a minute, I know why you're miserable, it's because you're jealous of Mr. Ravencroft and because Velma and you are boyfriend and girlfriend, so you don't want her to spend time with anyone other than you, right?" Daphne replied, with a question of her own.

"What? I'm not jealous of Ben Ravencroft, I mean sure he's a wealthy author and probably has a nice house, but I have relatives with lots of money and nice houses and, and, oh I can't take it any more I am jealous of Mr. Ravencroft, I mean he's probably charming Velma off her feet right now and what do I have?" Shaggy replied, before breaking down in tears.

"Shaggy, it's okay to be jealous, you just have to learn to not let your emotions get the best of you; I mean look at you, like you said you have rich relatives, in fact your family probably has as much money as mine, plus you're a warlock and a great one at that, so don't worry about Velma hanging out with Ben, just find a way to occupy the time until we get to Oak Haven, like for example, you could play a game or something like that, or you could check out the scenery; hey, if you want you could even use your magic for a simple spell or something, I wouldn't mind at all" Daphne explained, trying to reason with the teen.

"You know Daphne, you're right; I shouldn't be jealous of Velma hanging out with other guys, if I was jealous all the time I would be a nervous wreck and would never be able to help solve any mysteries with you guys" Shaggy replied.

"Good for you Shaggy, I'm glad to hear it" Daphne commented.

"Thanks Daphne, and maybe I will take some of your advice after all" Shaggy replied; the cowardly teen then pointed down at the floor and silently cast a spell, once he was finished a digital camera was now sitting on the floor of the van; the teen warlock then picked up said camera and began taking pictures of the scenery outside the vehicle, and the scenery inside of the van, specifically pictures of he and Scooby.

"Like I have to admit this having magic thing is working out great, plus it's nice if I forget anything when we go on vacations, I can just conjure something up and we'll have it for our trip without having to go back in the house for anything" Shaggy remarked as he sat back in his seat.

"I'll say, I mean I've seen magic before, but the way you do it is very impressive" Daphne said.

"No kidding Daphne; you know Shag, you'll have to show me how to cast some of the spells that you've learned" Fred stated.

"But Fred, you're not a warlock; I mean you were studying magic under Vincent Van Ghoul with Flim Flam, but you haven't done that in years" Shaggy replied.

"Well that's true Shaggy, but like they say you can still teach an old dog new tricks" Fred remarked.

"Um Freddie, I thought the saying is you can't teach an old dog new tricks?" Daphne wondered.

"Rog, rhere?" Scooby asked.

"Sorry Scooby, it's just a figure of speech" Daphne replied.

"Ruh?" Scooby said, somewhat confused.

"Well Scooby, simply put it means you can't teach a person something new, no matter how hard you try" Daphne explained, while looking at Fred all the while.

"Roh, rokay" Scooby replied.

"Like sorry if we confused you Scooby" Shaggy remarked.

"Rhat's okay Rhaggy, ri forgive you" Scooby replied, before reaching over and licking his master's face.

"Don't worry about it Scooby" Shaggy commented.

"Well since that's over, there's still one thing I want to know; Daphne, why were you looking at me when you said you can't teach an old dog new tricks or whatever you said" Fred remarked, somewhat annoyed at his female colleague, albeit while still keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

"Oh it's nothing Freddie, it's really nothing" Daphne replied while giggling a little.

"Come on Daphne, there has to be some reason why you were looking at me, plus why did you giggle when you replied to my question?" Fred asked.

"Really Freddie, it's nothing; let's just enjoy the scenery on the way to Oak Haven" Daphne replied.

"Okay, I trust you; actually I would trust you with a lot, and that's probably the reason why I love you so much" Fred said with a smile on his face.

"I know, and I love you too Freddie" Daphne replied; thankfully the pair of sleuths were riding in a car, because if they were anywhere else besides the Mystery Machine, they would probably be kissing and hugging each other for several minutes, which would have been annoying to the other members of the group, that is if Shaggy and Velma weren't also in love, because if Fred and Daphne were hugging each other, the cowardly teen and the bespectacled young woman would most likely also be hugging each other.

"Like oh brother, at least Velma and I don't act like that when we're spending time with each other" Shaggy said somewhat under his breath; although Fred and Daphne couldn't hear the teen warlock, Scooby Doo did and he decided to tease his cowardly master a little.

"Reah, rou and Relma ron't do that at all," the Great Dane said with a wink, which was of course directed at Shaggy.

"Oh and like what's that supposed to mean?" Shaggy asked, with his arms now folded and looking quite annoyed at his cowardly pet.

"Rou know" Scooby said with a smile as he began giggling.

"Like you know Scooby, you better cut that out or you won't be getting any Scooby Snacks for the foreseeable future" Shaggy replied with a somewhat serious look on his face; knowing that the cowardly teen might be serious, Scooby decided to quickly change his tune so to speak.

"Ri'm rorry Rhaggy, ri didn't mean anything by it" the canine said.

"That's okay Scoob, and I forgive you; speaking of Velma, I wonder what she and Ben are doing right now?" Shaggy wondered.

Meanwhile inside the expensive black roadster belonging to the internationally known horror writer Ben Ravencroft, one of the members of the Mystery Inc. detective agency: Velma Dinkley was speaking with the author about some of the finer points of his novels.

"Mr. Ravencroft, I have to say that creepy jewelry store owner in your novel _The Dead Mall_ was an incredibly complex character" Velma said.

"Thank You Velma, you're very kind; I have to admit that was one of my favorite books that I have written, you know it's funny you bring that up because if I remember correctly that book was a best seller and sold something like 105 million copies or something like that, I forget the exact number" Ben replied.

"150 million" Velma corrected him.

"150 million what?" Ben asked.

"The novel I mentioned, it sold 150 million copies" Velma replied.

"My my Velma, I'm impressed, I didn't think many people knew that; but from what I've read about you five, you are the most intelligent member of the group and I think if any one of you knew a lot about my novels, you would be the one who would know the most" Ben remarked.

"Thank you Ben, or Mr. Ravencroft; actually I don't remember ever asking you which name do you prefer to be called?" Velma asked, while blushing somewhat.

"Either one, it really doesn't matter; I mean we are friends, right?" Ben answered.

"I guess you could say that, so I guess I'll just call you Ben for now, hopefully that will be all right" Velma replied.

"I suppose that would be all right, by the way Velma, would you object if I asked you a personal question?" Ben responded.

"Hmm, I guess that would be all right; what specifically did you want to know?" Velma asked.

"Well, since we're still a ways away from Oak Haven, why don't you tell me a little about yourself, like your life and career for instance" Ben replied.

"All right; well, I was born and raised in Coolsville, Ohio which is our home town, I went to the same elementary school, junior high school and high school as the rest of the gang, well except for a short period of time in my freshman year" Velma responded.

"Why did you have to attend a different high school in your freshman year?" Ben asked.

"Well, you see my parents were and still are marine biologists and we traveled around a lot, so I had to attend a different school for about a year or so; although the whole time I really missed my friends, so my parents decided to settle down back in Ohio and the gang and I ended up going to the same high school for each of our respective sophomore, junior and senior years" Velma replied.

"Interesting, so you and your friends have known each other for quite awhile?" Ben asked.

"I sure have, and believe me they're probably the best group of friends anybody could ever have" Velma replied with a smile on her face, thinking about the great collection of associates that she had acquired over the years, although there was one particular friend that she was thinking about; however, sitting in the same automobile as a world famous author, it was probably a bit difficult for her to concentrate on him, considering the driver of the car was somewhat good looking and even though Velma had a boyfriend, the bespectacled teen seemed somewhat enamored with the writer and although she was an expert in science, she tried to figure out exactly why she might be attracted to Ben Ravencroft even though Shaggy was with the rest of the gang in the Mystery Machine and was missing her greatly.

"_Velma Dinkley, what is wrong with you? Shaggy's your boyfriend and you're sitting with this Ben Ravencroft, talking with him as if you're in love with him! You don't even know anything about this guy, other than the fact that he's a horror writer and he's rich and famous; heck, he might even be married already, and he might be cheating on his wife with you! Do you really want that on your conscience? Knowing that someone is cheating on their spouse with you? Velma, think about it, Shaggy's been there for you every time you've been down or upset, and you've been there for him every time he's been down or upset; you use your brain a lot but now is the time not to listen to it, now is the time to listen to your heart Velma, and do it before it's too late!"_

As the bespectacled teen sat in the passenger seat of Ben Ravencroft's automobile, she found herself torn between what was in her heart and what she was thinking within the depths of her brain, naturally both her heart and her mind were trying each in their own specific way to persuade her to follow the right course; while her brain was telling her that she had so much in common with Ben, especially the fact that she was a big fan of his novels, however her heart was telling her to not push it with Ben, considering Shaggy was her boyfriend after all.

"So Velma, have you and your friends always been detectives?" Ben asked.

Velma sat back in the plush black leather passenger's seat, looking straight ahead at the road for a few moments, then looking out the window at the scenery alongside the highway, then looking down at the floor of the vehicle, finally she closed her eyes briefly and began mulling over her current situation; however, after a few minutes in thought, she was brought back to reality by the driver of the automobile.

"Velma, Velma?" Ben asked, trying to bring Velma out of whatever thought she was in as he very briefly looked over at her, while making sure he kept his eyes on the road.

"Yes?" Velma answered, somewhat confused as to why Ben was looking over at her.

"I asked you a question and I was wondering if you were able to answer it for me" Ben replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Ravencroft I didn't realize you were still talking to me; now what was it that you wanted to ask me?" Velma responded.

"Well I was going to ask you if you and your friends have always been detectives" Ben remarked.

"Oh, well I guess I can answer that; my friends and I have been detectives since we were little, for the most part we've been solving mysteries locally in our home town, but after a while thanks to Daphne's father we've been able to travel around the United States and eventually we were able to travel all over the world" Velma replied.

"Really? So I take it that your friend Daphne's father is wealthy?" Ben asked.

"Oh yes, he's the owner of a company that makes all sorts of cosmetics and things like that; luckily with his wealth, influence and connections we were able to purchase a car and a private plane and all manner of other electronic gear that we use in the process of solving mysteries" Velma replied.

"It must be nice to know someone who's somewhat flush with money" Ben remarked.

"Sure is; he's actually a nice guy when you get right down to it, and a bit protective of his daughter sometimes but other than that, he's a great person" Velma replied.

"So have you and your friends had other jobs besides being part of a detective agency?" Ben asked.

"Well, we've each had other careers in between our time as investigators; Shaggy and Scooby were teachers at an all girl school for a while, then they were race car drivers, then they were customs officers for a while; Fred was a writer and then he worked for Daphne on her television show, Daphne was a reporter and then a television host; actually I had a couple careers as well: I worked for NASA for a while and then I owned a Mystery book store" Velma explained.

"My goodness Velma, I had no idea you and your friends had so many different occupations besides mystery solving; I'm particularly curious about that book store myself, how exactly did you get that particular job, if you don't mind me asking?" Ben wondered.

"It's fine, I really don't mind answering at all; actually my aunt owned the bookstore for quite a while, but she decided to take a long vacation and before you know it she contacted me; she remembered how much I liked mysteries so she figured I would be a good person to run it for her" Velma replied.

"How interesting, did your bookstore carry any of my novels? Just curious" Ben asked as his curiosity piqued after hearing that Velma was the owner of a bookstore.

"I think so, although it's been quite a while since I was in there so I really couldn't truthfully answer the question" Velma replied.

"Oh, well that's quite all right, if you don't remember, you don't remember; sometimes your memory fails you after quite a while, it really depends on your age I suppose, although you seem to be quite young and there's not really any way that your memory would fail you" Ben said.

"True, but you never know" Velma replied as she once again leaned back in her seat.

The intelligent female sleuth watched as the famous author guided the luxurious black automobile along the highway through the picturesque countryside, past lush green farms, dozens of farmhouses, a few scattered silos and farm animals, and through a couple of old covered bridges; after Ben had discussed Velma's life and various careers with her, the bespectacled teen decided to once again talk about the novelist's books, while the writer's car and the Mystery Machine headed into the home stretch of their trip.

After driving through a grove of trees whose leaves were now colored various shades of brown, yellow and orange, considering the time of the year, both vehicles approached an old wooden sign set along the foliage of the New England countryside; Velma however was discussing a particular scene of one of the novelist's works, and was too busy to notice that both vehicles were entering the writer's hometown.

"And that scene at the end of the book where the caretaker's flesh dissolves was very creepy and very well written" Velma said.

"Well here we are: Oak Haven" Ben said, not paying much attention to what the bespectacled teenager was talking about as he guided the black automobile onto what looked to be the main street of the small township.

"Already?" Velma asked sounding somewhat disappointed.

However, both the occupants of the Mystery Machine as well as Ben and Velma noticed that there was something a bit unusual as the vehicles found themselves parked behind several other vehicles, or rather hundreds of other vehicles; needless to say the group of teen sleuths, their Great Dane and the famous author were quite perplexed as to what exactly was happening in this small New England town.

"What in the world?" Ben wondered aloud as he saw large crowds of people standing around the various buildings and walking on the sidewalk.

"Wow, like I thought this was going to be a quiet little town, but I guess not" Shaggy quipped from his seat inside the Mystery Machine.

"Looks like there certainly are a lot of people here" Velma said after a few minutes of sitting behind the various vehicles, the bespectacled and the famed author parked and exited Ben Ravencroft's automobile, meanwhile Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby also decided to exit the Mystery Machine for pretty much the same reasons.

The famed horror writer and the members of Mystery Inc. began walking through the immense crowds of tourists that were exploring the main street of the somewhat quaint New England town, only now it wasn't very quaint, and it seemed more like a big city than a small town.

"Velma I have to really apologize, I really had no idea that Oak Haven was going to be so, so…" Ben started.

"Crowded?" the intelligent female sleuth replied.

"Right, I mean we always get a few leaf peepers and people that come to see the fall colors, but this, this is a circus" Ben said, with a somewhat incredulous look on his face as he surveyed the streets of Oak Haven.

As he and the rest of the gang continued walking, Ben Ravencroft spotted a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye, who at the moment happened to be chatting with some of the various populous and tourists of the town; after shaking the hand of a middle aged couple the man, who had somewhat curly light brown hair, was wearing a dark blue business suit, tan colored slacks and black shoes spotted the author and the gang and began walking over to them.

"Ben my boy!" the man exclaimed happily as he reached the gang and as a result began shaking the author's hand.

"Mayor Corey, it's great to see you again" Ben replied as he began shaking the man's hand.

"Well it's certainly nice to see you again Ben, always nice to see a local resident become a success and then return home to visit" Mayor Corey responded.

"Thank You Mayor, it's nice to be back too; oh, I almost forgot, I brought some friends with me and I would like to properly introduce them, everyone this is the mayor of Oak Haven: Mayor Corey" Ben said, introducing the group to the mayor.

"Well, like I always say: The more the merrier and any friends of Ben are friends of mine" the mayor replied, shaking the groups' respective hands, and in the case of Scooby: paws.

"Thank You mayor, I suppose it would be only right to introduce ourselves now that we know your name; for starters my name is Fred Jones" Fred said.

"And I'm Daphne Blake" the red haired teen added.

"Velma Dinkley" the bespectacled teen remarked.

"I'm Norville Rogers, but everyone calls me Shaggy, and to the right of me is my dog and sort of the mascot of our little group Scooby Doo" the cowardly teen commented.

"Rello" the cowardly canine added.

"Ah wonderful, welcome to Oak Haven, I certainly hope you'll enjoy your stay" Mayor Corey said.

"We certainly will mayor; but there's just one thing that's puzzling me" Velma replied.

"What's that my dear?" Mayor Corey asked.

"When Ben told us about his home town and invited us here, we really had no idea that it was going to be so crowded; can you tell us what's going on around here?" Velma inquired.

"You know, I'm also a little curious; I mean when I lived here, the area was nothing at all like this, what could have happened to cause my home town to be such a popular tourist destination" Ben remarked.

"Actually if the five of you are interested, I would love to give all of you a personal guided tour of the town and then I'll be able to show you why our town has become so popular" Mayor Corey explained.

"That sounds good to us Mayor, lead the way" Fred remarked as he and the rest of the gang followed the mayor, not knowing where the gang was going and not knowing quite what they were going to get themselves into in the small town of Oak Haven.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The distinguished looking man who served as the mayor of the small Massachusetts town known as Oak Haven led the gang through the streets of the small village, past various businesses and numerous groups of people, both small and large before coming to what looked to be a small park, however this park was filled with various booths which looked to be selling craft items of all sizes, types and descriptions, and that wasn't all; also in the park were a number of small wooden structures, which housed what looked to be various exhibits including a butter churner, a set of ancient looking stalks and other miscellaneous items; as they were being led around the small park by the mayor of the village, Scooby and company wondered just what all of this was, so the leader of the group decided to ask the mayor about what they were seeing.

"Mayor Corey, what exactly is all this anyway?" Fred wondered.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention all of that didn't I? Well, this is our own authentic Puritan Village" Mayor Corey replied.

"Puritan Village?" Fred questioned.

"Correct, this is a completely authentic representation of what life was like in the colonies, specifically Massachusetts in the 1600's; and I have to admit it's going very well, not to mention since we opened it as a tourist attraction business has been booming, unlike a few months ago when business was as slow as maple syrup on a cold winter's day" Mayor Corey replied.

"Interesting analogy mister mayor, colorful but interesting nonetheless" Daphne remarked.

"Thank you my dear, now I did promise you a tour of the village, so why don't we get started; I have a lot of things to do today and I think it would be best to begin our tour ASAP" Mayor Corey responded.

"Terrific" Daphne replied.

So with that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby along with Ben Ravencroft and the Mayor of Oak Haven begin walking through the village; the four teenage sleuths, their Great Dane, the famous horror writer marveled at the sights that populated the village, which were pointed out to them by the mayor of Oak Haven.

"Jinkies, there certainly are a lot of booths here, I can see all sorts of items for sale" Velma remarked.

"Very observant young lady, yes we have every kind of colonial craft that you can imagine; not only do we pride ourselves providing the complete tourist experience, but we also believe in providing authenticity as well, as you can see all of our crafts are made completely by hand, no electronic equipment in making our crafts at all" Mayor Corey explained.

"Like this Mayor Corey guy sounds like a department store salesman, he really does a good job of selling the town" Shaggy said as he leaned over to Velma and whispered to her.

"Now that I think of it he does doesn't he?" Velma replied.

The group of sleuths, the mayor and Ben Ravencroft then made their way over to a series of craft booths towards the left side of the park, a few moments later Shaggy and Scooby found themselves in front of a candle making booth, watching the process taking place; the cowardly teen sleuth and his cowardly canine companion watched intently as the dark brown haired woman dressed in period clothing dipped a wooden utensil with what looked to be white strings on it into what looked like a large vat filled with a wax mixture.

After a few moments and after making a couple of candles the woman looked over at the crowd of people that were at the booth; although she seemed to be looking specifically at Shaggy and Scooby rather than anyone else in the group, which the two of them seemed to notice.

Knowing that there was a particular reason the woman was looking over at he and his cowardly pet, Shaggy decided to inquire as to why she was looking over at them; at the moment the woman was beginning to make another candle, but once Shaggy looked over at her she stopped for a second and spoke to him.

"Yes? Does thou have a question?" the woman asked, still managing to stay in character.

"Like I think so, I was just wondering why you were looking over at us" Shaggy answered with a question of his own; somewhat curious as to why the woman was speaking specifically to him.

"Well I noticed that you seem to be interested about this particular booth; would the two of you like to come back here and make a couple of candles?" the woman asked.

Shaggy's eyes lit up once she asked the question, apparently this was something that Shaggy and Scooby were interested in, although it had nothing to do with food and nothing to do with Velma(although it seemed like his interest in her was more secretive than his interest in food).

"Actually miss I would love to, like to tell you the truth I want to get a gift or gifts for my grandparents; they recently got me something very special and I want to reciprocate by getting them something that's equally as exceptional to what they gave me" Shaggy replied.

"Ah I see, that's very generous of you, what did thou grandparents get thee?" the woman inquired.

"To tell you the truth miss, I would rather not say what it was; like it's a bit of a secret, and I don't really want that many people except for my friends to know about it" Shaggy replied, although in a somewhat quieter voice this time.

"That's understandable, sometimes people want things to stay within a small group, especially someone's family; now if you will come back here with me, I can show you how to properly make a homemade candle, okay?" the woman asked.

"Sounds great, like you don't mind if my dog Scooby watches do you?" Shaggy answered.

"No not at all, in fact I'm a bit flattered actually" the woman replied.

"Like thanks" Shaggy said.

With that said Shaggy walked from in front of the booth to the area behind it, which was where the woman was who was making the candles was standing; she smiled at him as he prepared to start making a homemade candle, which his grandparents would hopefully enjoy.

"Now just take the wooden utensil and dip it into the wax mixture, then once the candle base is hard enough, we can pull it out of the string and we have ourselves a candle" the woman explained.

"Like okay, here goes" Shaggy said; he then dipped the wooden utensil into the wax mixture on a small table in the booth, which the woman instructed him to do, a few moments later the cowardly teen pulled out the candles, which were perfectly formed.

"Excellently done, has thou made candles before?" the woman asked.

"Not really, this is the first time I've done this, but I have to admit it was interesting" Shaggy replied.

"Tell me, does though have relatives in this area, or is thou visiting?" the woman asked.

"Well actually, my parents live over in Plymouth, they're retired actually; my father used to be the police chief of my home town and my mother was a secretary and she did a few other things as well" Shaggy replied.

"Ah excellent, thy parents picked a good place to live; Plymouth is a lovely area" the woman said.

"Like I think they like it too, considering they've spent a great deal of time there; but in any case I really enjoyed making candles and who knows maybe I might try it at home" Shaggy replied.

"Wonderful, I think thou would make a great candle maker, and I would buy many candles from you" the woman commented.

"Thanks, by the way I never got your name; I mean I do have a girlfriend but I wouldn't mind knowing who helped me out" Shaggy remarked.

"That's quite all right, although I am in character I don't suppose it will do any harm to tell you who I am; my name's Amy, Amy Stewart" the woman replied.

"That's a very pretty name, mine's Norville, Norville Rogers, but everybody calls me Shaggy, it's sort of a nickname" Shaggy said.

"Ah I see, you know I think Norville's a very nice name as well, although I guess I can see why everybody calls you by a nickname" Amy replied.

"Like yeah, me too; well, it was nice to meet you Amy, but I have to get going and rejoin my friends, and my girlfriend, come on Scooby let's go" Shaggy remarked as he shook the young woman's hand before turning in the other direction to rejoin the gang.

"Rokay Rhaggy" Scooby replied.

"Oh and Shaggy?" Amy said as the cowardly duo started walking back towards the rest of the gang.

"Yes?" Shaggy replied, looking back towards the candle booth.

"Make sure you tell your grandparents and parents about Oak Haven, we love getting tourists in this area" Amy remarked.

"Thanks, I'll do just that" Shaggy replied.

So with that Shaggy and Scooby Doo walked back towards the rest of the gang, who at the moment along with the mayor and Ben Ravencroft were watching a woman churning butter; the cowardly teen warlock then snuck up behind Velma and decided to have a little fun with his girlfriend, by tapping her on the shoulder and pretending as if he was a devious and evil villain.

"Good evening my dear," Shaggy said in a somewhat sinister tone of voice.

Velma flinched a little and then turned around to see who was speaking, but when she did she Shaggy and Scooby standing and smiling, or at least Shaggy was smiling; Scooby however had a somewhat indifferent look on his face, although Velma was clearly annoyed with him as she turned to face him.

"Shaggy, why did you that? You know you scared me half to death!" Velma declared, still somewhat angry with him.

"Aw come on Velma, I was just having a little fun with you; what's the harm in that?" Shaggy asked.

"You know I didn't think it was that funny either, in fact I think you should be ashamed of yourself; let's see if it's funny the next time you or Scooby gets kidnapped? Then will you be laughing?" Daphne said somewhat sternly.

"Daph, come on let Shaggy have a little fun, after all isn't that what relationships are all about?" Fred asked.

"Well, when you put it that way..." Daphne replied.

"No!" Velma added.

"Aw come on girls I was just kidding, believe me if you were kidnapped Velma I would drop whatever I was doing and come to rescue you" Shaggy replied.

"You would?" Velma asked.

"Of course I would" Shaggy said as he took the bespectacled girl's hand, clearly the cowardly teen was trying to apologize to her and clearly Velma was impressed with his apology.

"I guess I can accept your apology, but just don't do it again" Velma replied.

"Well like I can't make any promises, but for you I won't do anything like that again" Shaggy remarked.

"Okay then, apology accepted" Velma said as she gave the teen warlock a friendly hug.

"Well now that Shaggy's apologized, will you apologize to me Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Okay if you insist Daph, I'm sorry" Fred replied as he dipped his head in a sorrowful manner.

"All right Freddie, apology accepted" Daphne remarked.

"How nice, I always like to see young couples in love and it seems like we have a couple of them, pardon the pun, right here" Mayor Correy remarked.

"I completely agree mayor, although I have to admit I've never really had much luck in romance; however if I do say so myself I think Miss Velma is a very interesting young woman" Ben said.

"Well thank you Mr. Ravencroft, I think Velma's pretty nice too," Shaggy said as he pulled the intelligent young woman towards him in a protective manner.

"Thank you Shaggy, that's very flattering that you want to protect me, however…" Velma replied.

"However?" Shaggy asked, looking a bit confused.

"Well, I do share a few interests with Ben, so if it's all right with you I would like to spend some time with him, maybe check out his house and library, maybe check out where he wrote some of his novels" Velma explained.

"Oh, well I guess that would be okay Velma, I mean you are my girlfriend and it would be nice if you spent a lot of time with me, but you're an independent person and I don't want to stop you from living your life" Shaggy said.

"Thank you Shaggy, that was very nice of you to say" Velma replied as she leaned over and kissed the teen warlock on the cheek.

"No problem Velma" Shaggy said.

"Boy you and Velma are really clicking in your relationship Shaggy" Fred commented.

"I'll say we are, and it's a good thing, because I really love Velma" Shaggy replied.

"But I'm confused Shaggy, if you're in love with Velma then why are you letting her spend time with Ben Ravencroft?" Fred asked in a voice that was low enough so the girls wouldn't hear he and Shaggy talking.

"Because of this reason Fred: I don't want to get jealous of every guy that Velma meets, so I'll let her spend time with him, heck maybe the time they spend together will be good for her, how I don't know why but maybe something good will come from this" Shaggy replied in the same low voice.

"I guess so Shag, I guess so" Fred remarked.

"Let's forget about that for now Fred, I want to learn more about this puritan village" Shaggy replied.

"You know Shaggy, that's a good idea" Fred commented.

"Thanks Fred, so Mayor Corey what more can you tell us about this village?" Shaggy asked, as his voice had risen back to its normal level.

"Well I'm glad you asked young man; as I said before we built this village about six months ago and it's a complete representation of Colonial life during the 1600's" Mayor Corey explained.

"Jinkies, that's very fascinating Mayor, I'm very impressed" Velma remarked.

While the gang, Mayor Corey and Ben Ravencroft were continuing to walk through the Puritan Village, Ben happened to notice a gray haired man walking down Main Street out of the corner of his eye; the author recognized the man and called over to him, hoping he would join the gang and the writer.

"Mr. McKnight, it's me Ben Ravencroft" Ben said.

"Oh hi Ben, it's nice to see you again" the man replied.

"It's nice to see you again too Mr. McKnight, I haven't seen you probably since you were in college, maybe even high school" Ben commented.

"So Mr. Ravencroft, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" Velma asked.

"Oh I'm sorry, everyone this is Mr. McKnight the town pharmacist, Mr. McKnight this is Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo, the world famous Mystery Inc." Ben said introducing everyone.

"It's very nice to meet you Mr. McKnight, so just how long have you been Oak Haven's pharmacist?" Shaggy asked.

"Actually I've owned the town pharmacy for about forty years, in addition Ben here used to go to my store for pens, notebooks, and quite a few ice cream sundaes" Mr. McKnight said.

"I didn't know pharmacies sold notebooks and pens?" Daphne asked.

"Oh yes, I always used to carry a large supply of those items, in fact I was partly responsible fort Ben Starting out in his writing career" Mr. McKnight replied.

"That's wonderful Mr. McKnight, it's so great to see a small town merchant supporting a celebrity, and some one as famous as Ben Ravencroft" Velma said.

"Well thank you my dear, that was very nice of you to say" Mr. McKnight replied.

"Mr. McKnight?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes?" Mr. McKnight replied.

"Like I noticed you are carrying a t-shirt of some kind, would you mind if I took a look at it?" Shaggy inquired.

"Why certainly young man, actually I was going to give it to Ben, at least before my store sells out of them" the man said handing a shirt to Shaggy, who looked at it somewhat unbelievably, as a matter of fact it looked like he was quite stunned by what the t-shirt said; once Shaggy was done looking at the shirt he handed it off to Ben Ravencroft.

Once Ben took the shirt and began to look at it, he wondered just what in the world was going on in his neck of the woods and exactly how and why it started.

"I met the ghost of Oakhaven, and lived?" Ben thought.

"Jinkies, I guess there's a ghost in your own hometown Ben" Velma replied.

"Not just a ghost but it's the spirit of Ben's own ancestor: Sarah Ravencroft who was persecuted as a witch back in 1657" the mayor remarked.

"Not this again, I honestly thought we were past this whole witch nonsense; Sarah was a Wiccan and not an evil witch" Ben replied sounding impatient.

"Oh yeah, like I remember reading something about Wiccans, they believed that healing the sick could be done with natural herbs and things like that right?" Shaggy asked as he looked towards Velma.

"That's right Shaggy, I'm very impressed that you knew that; yes, Wiccans did use natural herbs and various items from the Earth, they believed those items had special healing powers and could be used to cure all kinds of aliments, in fact Wiccans were quite controversial during the days of the colonies" Velma explained.

"Like right, from what I remember my folks telling me the last time I was in Massachusetts, Wiccans didn't always go along with the medical profession, simply put doctors didn't really like them that much because of their, unconventional methods so to speak" Shaggy replied.

"Jinkies Shaggy, that's not only impressive, that's amazing; I had no idea you knew so much about Colonial America" Velma remarked.

"Well like my parents live in Massachusetts nowadays, plus when Daphne, me, Scooby and Scrappy traveled there for my sister's wedding they told me a lot about the colonies, considering we had to deal with a colonial ghost" Shaggy replied.

"I didn't know your sister got married Shaggy, and that sounds interesting about the colonial ghost" Velma commented.

"Like it sure was, especially since it was an ancestor of mine" Shaggy replied.

"You're kidding" Velma said.

"Nope, it was someone who came over on the Mayflower, although he of course turned out to be phony; although if that ancestor of mine really was a ghost I wouldn't mind talking to him someday" Shaggy replied.

"Maybe you can Shaggy, maybe you can" Velma said.

"Like by the way Velma, doesn't the word Witch come from Wicca or something like that?" Shaggy asked.

"Right again Shaggy, indeed it does, that's why some people think of witches when they hear the word Wicca" Velma replied.

"Like it's too bad people believe that, if people just knew that all witches and warlocks weren't bad or evil then this world would be a much better place" Shaggy replied.

"I tend to agree Shaggy, although some witches and warlocks are good, the great majority of them are evil, which is why people get scared or become afraid when they see someone practicing witchcraft, which is why events such as the Salem Witchcraft trials took place several centuries ago" Velma remarked.

"Like yeah, if people just got to know witches and warlocks then maybe they wouldn't be so afraid of them, maybe witches and warlocks could really help mankind with its problems, like can you imagine if one warlock or witch, just one managed to end world hunger, or find a cure for cancer?" Shaggy replied, ending with a question of his own.

"All that's true Shaggy, however the only thing is I don't think some of those things would be that easy to solve, even with magic, but it was a nice thought Shaggy" Velma said with a smile on her face.

"Like I know, but it was a nice thought wasn't it?" Shaggy responded.

"It sure was, it sure was" Velma replied, grinning from ear to ear.

While Shaggy and Velma were talking, Ben Ravencroft was listening and wanted to talk to the pair of teen sleuths himself.

"This is certainly an interesting conversation Shaggy and Velma, I had no idea the two of you were so interested in things like witches and magic" Ben commented.

"Well, like we do solve supernatural mysteries for a living Mr. Ravencroft, so I guess we have a vested interested so to speak" Shaggy replied.

"He's right Ben, plus Shaggy's probably had the most experience with the supernatural in the group, well him and Scooby, not to mention Daphne" Velma added.

"Hmm, interesting, you know as I said previously, this is a very fascinating conversation; I've been saying for years that I wanted to clear my family's name once and for all, which is why I get so angry when people accuse Sarah of being a witch, she was a Wiccan and she used her natural herbs to heal the sick, actually from the research I was able to do about my family there is a physical piece of evidence that exists that will prove her innocence once and for all" Ben explained.

"Like what?" Shaggy asked.

"It's very simple, you see from what I've been able to ascertain there is a journal somewhere in Oak Haven that was used by Sarah to keep track of all her patients; she would also write down various notes about the patients, things like what the patients ailments were, if they needed any special treatments, things like that" Ben replied.

"Jinkies, so this journal is similar to what present day doctors might use in their practice?" Velma questioned.

"I suppose you could say that, as I've mentioned I'm not in the field of medicine, I'm an author, but I suppose that would make sense" Ben responded.

"So like if we find this journal, then you'll have the proof you need to clear Sarah's name?" Shaggy asked.

"Right, which is why I need the help of you five to find that journal" Ben replied.

"Don't worry Mr. Ravencroft if anyone can find that journal its Mystery Inc." Velma said.

"Like right Velma, we'll find that journal for Mr. Ravencroft, I'm sure of it" Shaggy added as he slowly put his arm around Velma's shoulder.

"Thank you, all of you, you don't know what you're all doing for me and my family" Ben remarked as he shook Velma's and then Shaggy's hands.

"You're welcome Mr. Ravencroft, now let's get back to this ghost business" Shaggy commented.

"Good idea Shaggy, I'm a little curious myself to how and why this witch's ghost started appearing in Oak Haven" Velma remarked.

"Well it's a bit interesting, and to tell you the truth I can't understand this either; although I do know how it started" Mayor Corey explained.

"That's what I was going to ask next Mr. Mayor, how did this whole thing start?" Shaggy questioned.

"This all started, that is to say it all began when we put up the Puritan village; then for the next six months the witch's ghost started popping up all over the place" Mayor Corey replied.

"Jeepers, so you couldn't tell where or when she would appear from day to day?" Daphne asked.

"Correct, young lady, although I just can't figure out what's going on around here, but one thing's for sure: this witch's ghost is actually been wonderful for the town economy, we've had tourists coming in from all over the world to visit us, just because of the witch's ghost" Mayor Corey said.

"Fascinating, although from what've you've told us we have an idea of why the ghost might be appearing in your town," Velma remarked.

"You don't say" Mayor Corey said, somewhat unenthusiastically.

"Now from what've you've told us so far, I think what has been happening is when you began building the village, you must have somehow disturbed her spirit with the construction" Fred remarked.

"And now her ghost has come back to haunt the area" Daphne added.

"Well, yes how did you know?" Mayor Corey asked.

"Ghost hunting is a specialty of ours" Velma replied.

"Oh I see" Mayor Corry responded, with a somewhat annoyed tone in his voice.

"Let's just forget about that now and see if we can find out more about this mystery, for instance Mayor Corey, what does this ghost actually look like and have you seen her?" Shaggy asked.

"Well me and many other townspeople, you really never know where she's going to pop up so to speak, considering she's a witch" Mayor Corey explained.

"You mean a Wiccan" Ben corrected him.

"Oh, sorry about that Ben, I didn't mean to say that, it's just that, well…" Mayor Corey said.

"You don't have to explain Mayor Corey, I didn't mind it that much" Ben replied.

"Very well, glad to hear it; now why don't we forget about this whole witch's ghost thing and see some more of our village, there are many more things to look over and I'm sure all of you will find something intriguing among our shops" Mayor Corey said with a smile.

"That sounds good to us, lead the way Mayor" Fred remarked.

With that Scooby and company resumed their look around the village; the five sleuths, the mayor of the town and their illustrious guest found many more booths filled with every type of craft you could imagine, or at least crafts that were available during the 1600's; among the man booths was a large tree stump, on which were displayed what looked to be several dolls, which intrigued the red haired member of the group a bit, as she always had a soft spot for dolls especially since she was a little girl when she had many of them, thanks to her wealthy parents.

Daphne then walked over to the tree stump and picked up one of the dolls; as she held in her hand she showed it off to Fred who found it somewhat interesting, although not as intriguing as Daphne.

"Aren't these Corn Husk dolls the cutest thing Fred?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, they are kind of charming when you think about it" Fred replied as he examined the small doll, which was dressed in Puritan style clothing.

Velma then picked up one of the dolls and began examining it, realizing that maybe Daphne might have something when she mentioned that it looked somewhat charming; while she was doing this, Shaggy walked over to where she was standing and placed his hand on her shoulder, which she didn't seem to mind and frankly it seemed to Shaggy that she didn't really care.

"So Shaggy, is Daphne right, do you think this Corn Husk doll is cute or charming?" Velma asked.

"Like it does have a certain charm to it now that I think of it" Shaggy replied.

"You know I tend to agree with you, thanks Shaggy" Velma said, blushing a little as she spoke.

"Believe me Vel, it's no problem at all" Shaggy replied.

With that Velma and Daphne each placed the corn husk dolls back down on the tree stump and rejoined the rest of the gang; a few moments later the group of sleuths and their guests continued walking through the small village, marveling at the sheer number of booths and exhibits in the village, however as they were doing this the gang's trusty canine caught the scent of something with his nose and started moving away from the gang.

Although at the moment Shaggy didn't notice this because he was making sure Ben Ravencroft wouldn't make any moves on his girlfriend, or would try and steal her away from him, so he didn't notice that Scooby was absent from the group; however when he turned to the Great Dane to ask him something, he noticed that the canine was missing and wondered where he had gone too.

"Scooby? Scooby Doo Where Are You?" Shaggy called out in a bit of a whisper as by this time he had also broken away from the group, albeit for good reason; while naturally he hoped Scooby was okay, he was also secretly hoping that Ben Ravencroft wouldn't turn into Don Juan and try and pry Velma away from him, and if he did, considering Shaggy was now a warlock he would be very sorry.

The cowardly teen now caught up with Scooby, who was standing next to a large tree trunk in the center of the park where the village was located; Shaggy was a bit curious as to why the Great Dane had stopped in this location, although it appeared to him that Scooby Doo had a very good reason for leading him here, in this case it was apparently because the Great Dane had found something, which he was letting his master know about as he pointed towards the area where he stopped.

"What did you find Scooby?" Shaggy asked.

"Ri'm not rure Rhaggy, rut it right re rimportant" Scooby replied.

"Hey like you might have something there Scooby, maybe there's a chance that this is that journal that Mr. Ravencroft was talking about" Shaggy explained.

"Raybe Rhaggy, rey raybe rou rould ruse rour ragic ro rigure out rhat it is" Scooby responded.

"Hmm, good thinking Scooby, now let me see" Shaggy said, drumming his fingers on his goateed chin; finally he figured out a way to see exactly what Scooby had found and if it was important to the mystery of the witch's ghost.

"Scooby, I'm going to cast a small spell and lift the dirt to try and see what's buried in the soil, okay?" Shaggy explained.

"Rhat rounds rood Rhaggy" Scooby replied.

"Okay, like here goes nothing" Shaggy said as he pointed his fingers at the dirt; suddenly magical sparks flew out of his fingertips which then formed into a green glow, which then covered the dirt and lifted it next to Scooby; after a few minutes of this, the Great Dane saw something square shaped in the soil and let his master know of his find.

"Rhaggy, rtop!" Scooby declared; the cowardly teen heard this and ceased his spell in an instant as he wondered just what the cowardly canine was going to tell him.

"Like what's up Scooby, did you find something?" Shaggy asked; the cowardly Great Dane trotted over to the area where the dirt had been lifted and lowered his head to retrieve what looked to be a small metal square with his teeth.

The cowardly Great Dane then jogged over to his now warlock master and dropped the small object in his hand, so that he could better examine it; even though Shaggy had been friends with Velma for so long and by that account you would think some of her knowledge might have rubbed off on him, however as he looked at the square shaped metal item he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Hmm, like I know this is a clue of some kind, but I just can't figure out what this doohickey is" Shaggy thought.

"Raybe re should ro rind Relma" Scooby replied.

"Good thinking Scooby, like if there's anyone who knows what this is, it's Velma, come on let's go find her" Shaggy said.

With that Shaggy and Scooby walked through the small park and back towards the Puritan village, where they found their friends, the mayor and Ben Ravencroft talking with a few of the citizens of the town about ghost sightings; when the gang saw Shaggy and Scooby walking back towards them however, they quickly switched the topic of conversation.

"Shaggy, Scooby! Where have you guys been?" Velma asked.

"Like sorry about that Velma, Scooby got a scent of something and then voila, he started searching for the source of it; although I think this time he might have found something important" Shaggy said.

"You mean you guys found a clue?" Velma asked.

"Maybe, the problem is we're not sure what this thing is, here I'll hand it to you Velma, maybe you can figure it out" Shaggy said as he walked over to Velma and placed the item in her palm; the bespectacled teen examined it for a few moments, however soon she was joined by Mayor Corey who looked over her shoulder and began speaking to the group.

"Looks like you and your dog found an antique shoe buckle" Mayor Corey explained.

"Like groovy; too bad it's not a clue though, but still it's pretty cool" Shaggy said as he took the buckle from Velma's hand and placed on the top portion of his right shoe.

"Hey as long as you found that one Shaggy, maybe you can find the other, then you'll have a matching pair" Velma replied.

"Like that's not a bad idea Velma, maybe we can do that right now" Shaggy remarked.

"Speaking of antiques, did the two of you find anything else while you were searching for this shoe buckle?" Ben asked, sounding somewhat eager.

"Nope, like sorry Mr. Ravencroft, we didn't find a thing, not even that journal that you were talking about" Shaggy replied.

"Darn, oh well I guess I'll just have to keep looking for it" Ben said, somewhat dejectedly.

"Don't worry Mr. Ravencroft, you'll find it and maybe you can finally clear your family name" Daphne replied.

"You know I just thought of something, why don't you kids, your dog and Ben take a break from solving the mystery and enjoy our Autumn Fest concert tomorrow night, who knows maybe you'll meet the Witch's ghost herself" Mayor Corey explained.

"Like that's very generous of you mayor, so who's playing at this concert" Shaggy replied.

"The Hex Girls, they're a local group and something tells me you might like them, kinda spooky and very mysterious," Mayor Corey said.

"Hmm, that sounds terrific, we'll make sure and stay and see it" Fred replied.

"Terrific, we always love visitors and I'm sure you'll feel right at home," Mayor Correy said.

"Like I'm sure we will" Shaggy replied.

"Actually since we're talking about ideas, I have one; would you kids like to see my studio, it's at my home, where I wrote my early books" Ben explained.

"That sounds great Mr. Ravencroft" Fred replied.

"Like actually Fred, all this investigating we're doing kind of works up an appetite so, if it's okay with you Scooby and I are going to check out that restaurant Mr. Ravencroft was telling us about after we met him" Shaggy said.

"Excellent, I happened to know the owner and I think he'll enjoy you two as guests" Mayor Correy replied.

"Like I'm sure he will, except that we don't know where the restaurant is" Shaggy said.

"That's no problem, why don't I escort the two of you there," Mayor Correy said.

"Sounds good" Shaggy replied.

"OK then now here's what we'll do: Daphne, Velma and I will go with Ben to check out his house while Shaggy and Scooby check out the restaurant, and then we'll meet back in the park later" Fred clarified.

"Like that sounds good, come on Scooby" Shaggy remarked.

"Besides, maybe food will help me deal with the fact that Velma is hanging out with Ben Ravencroft more than me" he said to himself.

"Ri ron't ret it Raggy, rhy are you sad that Velma ris spending rending rore rime rith Ren rather rhan rou?" Scooby asked as he and Shaggy started to make their way to the restaurant.

"Well Scoob, over the years Velma and I have always been good friends and we've both been there for each other, but I've also come to think of Velma as more than a friend" Shaggy said trying to explain his feelings.

"Rou rean rou rove Relma right?" Scooby asked.

"Exactly Scooby, it's just that ever since I inherited my magical powers from my grandparents, now that we're boyfriend and girlfriend I want to spend a lot of time with her and now she's spending time with Ben Ravencroft instead of me; besides, if you ask me there's something not quite right about him" Shaggy replied.

"Rike rhat?" Scooby wondered.

"I don't know, there's just something weird about him; I just hope Velma's alright and that nothing bad happens to her" Shaggy replied.

"Re too Rhaggy, re too" Scooby said as Mayor Corey led them through the sidewalks of the quaint village.

While it seemed like at the moment Shaggy and Scooby were getting ready to simply enjoy a nice dinner, when they finished they would be thrown head long into yet another mystery; although as they and the rest of the gang would soon learn, this wasn't going to be one of their usual mysteries, this time there was a very real possibility that one of the group of sleuths might lose his or her life, if they weren't careful.

Author's Notes: Hopefully everybody is enjoying this story so far; by the way, some parts of this story might be a little different from the movie; although I do remember parts of the movie, some parts of this story are going to be slightly different from the original movie, although since it's fan fiction it probably doesn't really matter that much.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Shaggy and Scooby were led by the friendly mayor of Oak Haven, Massachusetts down the main street of the quaint New England village towards a restaurant owned by a friend of the mayor and of the world famous author Ben Ravencroft whom they had met only a few days ago, but was a great admirer of the group of sleuths, however it seemed to Shaggy Rogers that he admired Velma Dinkley the most, which distressed him somewhat considering Velma and Shaggy were boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Mayor Corey?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes my boy?" Mayor Corey answered.

"Have you ever been in love?" Shaggy questioned.

"Well, dear boy I am married, so I guess that answers your question" Mayor Corey replied.

"You're kidding, so when did you get married Mayor Corey?" Shaggy asked.

"Well my boy, it was about fifteen years ago" Mayor Corey replied.

"Cool, so like who's Mrs. Mayor Corey?" Shaggy wondered.

"I'm glad you asked, I actually have a picture of her if you would like to see her" Mayor Corey replied.

"Like that would be great, what about you Scoob?" Shaggy asked.

"Reah, ri rouldn't rind reeing rher roo" Scooby agreed.

"All right, just let me get my wallet out and I'll show you what she looks like" Mayor Corey replied.

The mayor then rummaged around in his pockets for a few moments until he found his wallet; after finding the wallet, he reached into one of its compartments and pulled out a rectangle shaped piece of paper, the piece of paper was actually a small glossy picture and on the picture was a dark brown haired woman who looked to be about in her mid fifties, in the photograph the woman wore a simple dark blue dress, in fact if you saw her picture you might think she was Daphne's twin considering both of them wore almost the same type of outfit; Shaggy and Scooby both gave a low whistle and were amazed at how beautiful the woman in the picture looked and how the mayor of a small town like Oak Haven could be married to someone like her.

"Like your wife is very beautiful Mayor; if you don't mind me asking, what's her name?" Shaggy inquired.

"I would be happy to tell you, her name is April and she was my high school sweetheart; we were both born and raised right here in Oak Haven, and we both went to the same college together as well," Mayor Corey explained.

"You don't say, where did you two go to school or I guess I should say college huh" Shaggy replied.

"Quite all right, I understand what you meant, you see my wife and I both went to Boston College together, she graduated with a degree in mathematics, mostly she liked working with facts and figures, although I could never understand all that stuff to be honest" Mayor Corey said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Like I guess so, what about you mayor? What degree did you get?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, I graduated with a degree in the field of journalism; actually I guess that must be why everyone seems to like me, I'm very friendly and an excellent speaker" Mayor Corey replied.

"You certainly are mayor, in fact I'm a little impressed at how well you treat tourists" Shaggy said.

"Well, thank you my boy, but I can't really take all the credit; I feel the success of the town is due to the money spent by visitors to the town, like your friends for example, I feel that the back bone of any small town is the small businesses that people visit while they are staying in that particular town; all the small businesses are run by knowledgeable people who love to treat customers as they would want to be treated, so we treat visitors with respect and courtesy in Oak Haven, which is why they keep coming back here to visit us as often as possible" Mayor Corey replied.

"True, all of that is important; although I guess another reason why this town is so popular is that witch's ghost huh?" Shaggy remarked.

"Yes, the witch's ghost has brought a large amount of tourism for this area, and frankly I couldn't be happier" Mayor Corey replied.

"So, in a way you and the citizens of Oak Haven have learned to live with the ghost huh?" Shaggy questioned.

"I suppose you could say that; after all, how can you not like something that contributes so far hundreds of thousands of dollars to our economy" Mayor Corey replied.

"Yeah, I guess" Shaggy remarked, although he chuckled under his breath, which the mayor didn't hear.

"Why don't we forget about the witch's ghost for now; for example: why did you ask if I had ever been in love young man?" Mayor Corey inquired.

"It's really nothing, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it in the first place" Shaggy replied, trying to avoid talking about his girlfriend, at least for a while.

"Hmm.. Judging by the way you were acting around that girl in the orange sweater, I would say that you're having a problem with her, maybe she isn't spending as much time with her as you would like, correct?" Mayor Corey inquired.

"I guess you could say that, although at the moment I would rather talk about something else besides that" Shaggy remarked.

"Oh, I see; that's understandable, I've seen a lot of young couples go through that sort of thing, so if you don't want to discuss it, then that's fine; now I would assume that your and your Great Dane are hungry, so why don't we get some food into the two of you, does that sound good?" Mayor Corey asked.

"Sure, I would love it, go ahead and lead the way Mayor" Shaggy replied.

So with that Mayor Corey, Shaggy and Scooby Doo resumed their journey to the small restaurant where they were set to have a dinner that they wouldn't soon forget; while they walked to the restaurant, Mayor Corey and the cowardly pair of sleuths chatted a little about various topics, including the pair's hobbies, some of their past mysteries (considering Fred had mentioned about ghost hunting a little while ago), and more about the small town and its history.

After about five minutes more the green shirted sleuth and his canine companion reached a small building with an red open sign displayed prominently in the front window; Mayor Corry then explained to Shaggy and Scooby that this was the restaurant that Ben had speaking about earlier and escorted the two of them inside; the two sleuths and their politician friend made their way up to front counter of the eating establishment where they found a rather plump looking man with light brown hair wearing an apron and working an old fashioned cash register; Shaggy and Scooby remembered hearing about this man before, so the cowardly teen warlock decided to take a shot in the dark and guessed that this must be the owner of the establishment.

"Oh you must be Jack" Shaggy remarked.

"Sure am, by the way how did you know who I am?" Jack asked.

"Simple, the Mayor and Ben Ravencroft were talking about you earlier" Shaggy replied.

"Oh, did they mention that this was of the best restaurants in New England?" Jack wondered.

"Like they sure did," Shaggy replied.

"Wonderful, I'm always happy to get compliments; now, let me show you to a special table I have reserved for special guests" Jack said smiling; while the owner of the restaurant spoke to Shaggy and Scooby, Mayor Corey slipped out the door to attend to some errands he had to run.

The rather plump looking man then led the beatnik and Great Dane to a small booth in the back of the restaurant; Shaggy and Scooby sat down and prepared to order, however the cowardly beatnik's mind wasn't completely on food because after he sat down and after Jack had put menus down in front of both of them Shaggy was looking out the side window and onto the streets.

At the present time the cowardly teen warlock wasn't paying much attention to what was going on in the restaurant; he was lost in his own thoughts, thinking to himself as he continued to peer out the window.

"What does Ben Ravencroft have that I don't?" Shaggy wondered to himself.

"Sure he's one of Velma's favorite horror writers, sure he's rich and famous, sure he travels all over the world and is a jetsetter but so am I, sort of" he noted as his thoughts continued to pass through his mind.

"I have relatives who are rich and I have some money, I've traveled all over the world solving mysteries with the rest of the gang, heck if it weren't for me and Scooby we never would have solved any of our cases" Shaggy said continuing to think about his current situation, although every few moments pictures ran through his mind of him using his magic to twist Ben Ravencroft like a pretzel, or transporting him into a cage with a man eating lion, or other tortures; however Shaggy wasn't like evil warlocks, he was more like Vincent Van Ghoul which meant that he was a kind and gentle soul and would never think of hurting someone, even Ben Ravencroft.

As he sat back in the booth deep in thought, Scooby Doo suddenly spoke up which in turn startled the cowardly teen sleuth, jolting him out of his dreams and thoughts.

"Raggy?" Scooby asked.

"What is it Scooby, I was thinking about something" Shaggy replied, at first somewhat annoyed with his canine companion, but he soon settled down and took a deep breath as his canine spoke.

"Ri'm rorry Raggy" Scooby replied.

"It's ok old buddy, I was just thinking about why Velma would to hang out with Ben rather than me" Shaggy commented.

"Ri ron't row, raybe rome rood rill relp; ret's reat!" Scooby remarked.

"You're right Scoob, some dinner might help me get my mind off Velma and Ben" Shaggy replied.

The friendly owner of the restaurant Jack, who was busing a nearby table when Shaggy was talking and as a result overheard their conversation, walked over to the Great Dane and teenage sleuth's table to see if he could offer assistance.

"So are the two of you ready to order?" Jack asked.

"Like I guess so, what would you recommend?" Shaggy replied.

"Actually I happened to hear the two of you talking and I'm kind of curious as to what's going on" Jack commented.

"I don't mean to be rude but its kind of personal" Shaggy said in a whisper.

"Oh, I see; a lot of people come in here and I'm usually pretty good with these sorts of things, so maybe I can help" Jack replied with a whisper.

"Hmm, I guess it wouldn't do any harm; well Jack, there's this girl and we're kind of in love but she's hanging out with that author Ben Ravencroft instead of me; when we were younger she would almost always go with me and Scooby here to look for clues to unravel mysteries but well now I just don't know" Shaggy explained in a whispered tone, making sure to not let anyone hear him and Jack talking.

"Ah, so you and your dog are detectives I take it?" Jack asked.

"We sure are" Shaggy replied.

"Interesting, what's the girl's name?" Jack asked.

"Her name's Velma, she's smart, she's wonderful, she's pretty and we've been friends for like forever," Shaggy explained, taking a deep breath as he spoke.

"Aha, I see what's the matter; I've seen this dozens of times, I would bet that you're jealous of Ben and that you don't like this Velma to hang out with him" Jack replied with a chuckle.

"No, that's not it at all, well actually, yes" Shaggy sighed.

"I figured as much" Jack replied.

"There's not anything wrong with that is there?" Shaggy wondered.

"No of course not, I may not be an expert in love and those sorts of things but jealousy is a perfectly natural emotion" Jack replied.

"Thank goodness, at least I'm not crazy; well since that's over let's eat, what do you say Scoob?" Shaggy said, asking his friend.

"Reah ret's reat" Scooby replied.

"Excellent, now I have a delicious juicy ham bone for your dog if he would like one" Jack said.

"Rah, ro rhank rou, rut rhank you ror rasking" Scooby replied.

"Like that's ok, by the way do you have any specials?" Shaggy asked.

"I'm very glad you asked, we have a delicious Yankee Pot Roast, boiled potatoes, New England Clam Chowder and also for dessert we have a fantastic Cinnamon Apple Pie that you must try, it's really supernatural" Jack replied.

"Like you know that sounds really delicious Jack, what about drinks?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, we have apple cider, coffee, hot chocolate, water, milk and soft drinks, now what would you like?" Jack inquired.

"Hmm, what do you think Scooby?" Shaggy asked.

"Rot rhocolate" Scooby replied.

"OK, like Scooby will have hot chocolate and I'll have milk; now is that refillable?" Shaggy inquired.

"Well, usually not, but since you're Ben's special guests and he's picking up the check, your drinks are refillable; by the way, if you want anything other than what you ordered, go right ahead and order it" Jack explained.

"Groovy, like if we think of anything we'll let you know, okay Jack?" Shaggy asked.

"Sounds fine to me, now let me get your orders started, I bet you two are starving" Jack replied.

"Like you'd win that bet," Shaggy said.

With that Jack walked back behind the counter and into the kitchen area to prepare the two sleuths food; after the owner of the restaurant left for the kitchen area however Scooby Doo noticed that Shaggy relaxed in his booth seat, the adolescent warlock was taking a few deep breaths, which made the Great Dane curious as to why he was doing this.

"Rhat's rrong Rhaggy?" Scooby inquired.

"I don't know Scooby, it's just Ben Ravencroft; I've been thinking about him ever since we met him, and ever since Velma first laid eyes on him, there's still something that's not quite right about him, I just can't put my finger on it" Shaggy remarked.

"Rike rhat Rhaggy?" Scooby asked, as by this time Jack had brought a glass of milk and a mug of hot chocolate to the table and placed the milk in front of Shaggy and the cocoa in front of Scooby Doo.

"Here you go boys, enjoy your drinks and your food should be coming up soon" Jack explained.

"Like thanks Jack" Shaggy replied as he watched the cook head back to the kitchen area.

"Ro rhat arout Ren Ravencroft is rot ruite right Rhaggy?" Scooby asked.

"Well Scoob, when I studied all the trinkets, spell books, charms and amulets my grandparents gave me, I learned a few interesting things" Shaggy replied.

"Rike rhat Rhaggy?' Scooby asked.

"Like for starters I learned how to read people's minds, how to tell people's futures, and one spell I learned allowed me to look deep into a person's soul" Shaggy said, although once he got to the last part of his statement, he was speaking in an ominous voice.

"Roul? Rhaggy risn't rhat rind of rike rhat a rortune reller rould ro?" Scooby inquired, before taking a drink of his cocoa.

"Like not really Scoob, although I could learn to be a fortune teller, maybe reading palms or paws would be kind of cool" Shaggy said, in a somewhat spooky sounding voice once again.

"R-Rhaggy, raybe rhat's rot ruch a rood idea" Scooby replied with a bit of a whimper.

"Like I'm sorry Scooby" Shaggy said.

"Rhat's okay Rhaggy, ro rou rere ralking rabout Ren right?" Scooby inquired.

"Right; when we were with him earlier I could see into his mind and soul, and it also seemed like he was holding something back" Shaggy replied.

"R-rike rhat?" Scooby asked, taking another drink of his hot chocolate; while the two of them were speaking however, Jack came up to the table and placed their orders of food in front of them, in addition Jack also placed a pitcher of milk and a container of hot chocolate on the table as well, which confused Shaggy and Scooby a little, however they didn't seem to mind it too much.

"Here you are boys, two specials" Jack remarked.

"Mmm mmm, this looks scrumptious, thanks Jack" Shaggy responded.

"You're welcome, by the way I gave you your dessert as well because I have to run some errands so I'll be out of the restaurant for a few minutes; now, if there are any problems or if you need anything, I'll be a phone call away and I can rush right back here, okay?" Jack asked.

"Sure Jack, we'll be fine, go right ahead" Shaggy replied.

"OK boys, I'll be right back, and don't eat up everything in the restaurant" Jack quipped, chuckling a little as he spoke.

"Right Jack" Shaggy and Scooby responded in unison; with that Jack walked out the door with keys in hand and headed down Main Street.

"Like that's weird," Shaggy remarked.

"Rhat Rhaggy?" Scooby asked.

"How come Jack said he had to do errands? He's got a full restaurant full of people and all of a sudden he just splits? Something's up with him Scoob, I can sense it" Shaggy commented.

"Rare rou rure Rhaggy?" Scooby questioned.

"Like sure I'm sure, heck maybe he's behind the witch's ghost" Shaggy remarked.

"Really?" Scooby inquired.

"It's possible; plus now we have two suspects in this mystery: Ben Ravencroft and Jack, besides when I was probing Ben's mind and soul, I could sense he was hiding something like I mentioned earlier, I just don't know what, maybe we'll find out later when we meet up with the gang again" Shaggy replied before taking a bite of his pot roast.

Meanwhile back at Ben Ravencroft's home, Fred, Daphne and Velma were examining the famous author's home, along with every aspect and every piece of furniture in the building; Ben stood in the middle of the front room of the one bedroom home, showing off the various mementos of his writing career to the three sleuths, who were quite impressed with his collections.

"You know Mr. Ravencroft you have some really cool things in your home, like these posters for example" Fred remarked as he studied the framed pieces of paper on one of the walls of the room.

"Why thank you Fred; actually those posters represent some of the publicity photographs and early versions of the covers of some of my various novels" Ben explained.

"Well, they certainly are interesting Mr. Ravencroft" Daphne replied.

With that Fred and Daphne then continued to examine the various articles, mementos and items on the walls of the home; meanwhile Velma was standing near Ben Ravencroft not knowing quite what to do with herself, she wanted to continue looking around Ben's home, but with the sheer number of souvenirs and artifacts in his home, Velma couldn't figure out where on earth to start.

"Velma, would you like to sit down at my computer desk?" Ben asked as he approached the bespectacled young woman.

"Would you mind?" Velma asked with a gasp.

"No, not at all, in fact I would be very flattered" Ben replied.

"Jinkies, well then I would love to" Velma said.

The young woman then walked over to the writer's desk and began examining every square inch of the famous writer's computer and keyboard; in fact she even started to type a little on the keyboard just to see how it felt to sit and work on the same keyboard that had been the source of so many great novels and so many of her favorite novels as well.

"Wow, this is great, I'm really enjoying this" Velma commented.

A few moments after Velma sat down at the keyboard, the blond unofficial leader of the group noticed an artwork hanging above the front room's fireplace and decided to ask the famous author more about it.

"Mr. Ravencroft?" Fred inquired.

"Yes Fred?" Ben responded.

"I was wondering if you could tell us more out this painting that you have hanging above your fireplace" Fred replied.

"Why certainly Fred, this is a portrait of Sarah Ravencroft, my ancestor from Colonial times," Ben explained.

"Wow, she's beautiful Mr. Ravencroft, is this who you were talking about earlier?" Fred inquired.

"Yes Fred, this is who the town supposedly thinks is haunting them, frankly I really hope it is, because I would have the chance to meet her and speak with her, it's also the reason why I get so upset when people accuse her of being an evil witch, when she was an innocent Wiccan who was persecuted and killed for her beliefs" Ben replied.

"I wouldn't mind too Ben, in fact as I was talking to Shaggy about earlier, Wiccans are often misunderstood, accused of sorcery, when all they ever tried to do is help society by using rather unconventional methods of treating people, using items that doctors and physicians would never have used" Velma clarified.

"Very good Velma, and it's also why I want to find that journal, because it will help clear my family's name once and for all and will make people realize that she was a Wiccan and not a witch" Ben replied.

"Mr. Ravencroft, this may be a weird question but: can you tell us more about this painting? If we knew more about the history behind this artwork, then we could find out more information about Sarah and maybe we could help find the journal" Velma remarked.

"Hmm… well let me see: from what I remember the painting was probably made by a grateful patient of Sarah's; in fact when I began reading about Sarah and the Wiccans, it eventually led me to the world of the supernatural, which led me to begin writing novels to frighten people, and if I do say so myself I'm quite good at it" Ben answered.

"True, you are quite good at it, heck your books have given me plenty of nightmares over the years, and that's a fact" Fred replied.

"Why thank you Fred, for a horror writer that's the best compliment one of us can get and judging by what I see through the windows it looks like it might be a good atmosphere for a horror novel, or to meet a certain ghost" Ben answered as he looked out the window to see that it was getting darker.

"Jeepers, Mr. Ravencroft's right, and we still have to meet Shaggy and Scooby at the restaurant before we look for that ghost" Daphne stated.

"You're right Daphne, although knowing Shaggy and Scooby they probably won't be done by the time we get there" Fred remarked.

"Well, why don't we all head to the restaurant and see if your friends are ready to leave yet, okay?" Ben asked.

"Sounds good Mr. Ravencroft" Fred replied; with that Ben picked up his house keys, while Fred, Daphne and Velma followed him and together they left the author's house; a few moments later Ben locked the front door to his house and the three sleuths and Ben Ravencroft began walking through the streets of Oak Haven and back towards the small restaurant where Shaggy and Scooby were currently enjoying their evening meal.

Meanwhile back at the small eating establishment, Shaggy and Scooby were continuing to eat their respective meals, although they didn't get too far into the meals as some of the patrons of the restaurant were looking at them curiously; most were interested to see what they were eating and if they were enjoying it, while even others recognized them and were beginning to ask for autographs which the pair of cowardly sleuths were happy to give.

Soon the door to the restaurant opened, and the pair of detectives saw the friendly owner of the establishment Jack had returned from his errands; although Jack was pleasantly surprised and a little curious as he saw a large amount of patrons of the restaurant speaking with Shaggy and Scooby, so he decided to inquire as to what was happening.

"My my, you two certainly are popular" Jack remarked; as he stepped up to their table, Shaggy and Scooby greeted the friendly restaurateur and began speaking to him.

"Like are you back from your errands Jack?" Shaggy inquired.

"Yes Shaggy, I just had to pick up a few things for the restaurant; although it looks like you two are certainly having a hard time getting through your dinner" Jack chuckled.

"Well like we're used to it by now, I guess those are the hazards of being world famous investigators" Shaggy replied.

"I'll bet; if you two would like to finish your food then I can make sure no one bothers you" Jack remarked.

"Like that would be nice, besides our friends should be meeting us soon" Shaggy replied.

"Not a problem you two" Jack said as he began shooing away the customers from Shaggy and Scooby's table; naturally some of them were disappointed, but realized that the cowardly duo needed to eat, just like everyone else; later on that evening while Shaggy and Scooby eating their meals and talking about Velma and Ben Ravencroft, they noticed that the door to the small restaurant opened yet again and this time standing in the doorway were Fred, Daphne, Velma and Ben Ravencroft.

"Hi guys" Velma remarked; Shaggy then looked up from his table and his plate and saw the smiling bespectacled young woman standing next to her friends, and the famous author, who Shaggy wasn't too happy to see especially right next to Velma; luckily for the cowardly young man he wasn't eating anything at the moment so he was able to grit his teeth to express his displeasure with the author, although to assure that Velma wouldn't be upset with him he decided to pause his anger and begin speaking with her again.

"Hi Velma, what's up?" Shaggy asked.

"Not much, we just got done with checking out Ben's house and now we're going to head to the park and see if the witch's ghost is going to show up, you guys want to come?" Velma inquired.

"Like actually, we're still finishing dinner so if it's okay with you guys, we would like to finish up here and then we'll come find you guys, okay?" Shaggy inquired.

"Sounds good Shaggy, we'll catch you guys later okay?" Velma asked.

"Like sounds good, Velma and we'll be there" Shaggy replied; with that the bespectacled young woman along with Fred, Daphne and Ben Ravencroft headed out the door and began walking down Oak Haven's Main Street towards the park where the Puritan Village was located in hopes of seeing and possibly speaking to the witch's ghost.

As he watched Velma and the gang leave the small eating establishment Shaggy smiled and hoped that Ben Ravencroft wouldn't hurt or harm the young woman before he had a chance to spend more time with his girlfriend during their current mystery; the friendly owner of the restaurant then walked up to the table and began speaking to the cowardly and hungry duo about the people that just left the restaurant.

"So, which one of your friends is Velma?" Jack asked.

"Like Velma is the one wearing the orange sweater with the dark red skirt, and she has dark brown hair and the most beautiful freckles you've ever seen" Shaggy sighed, thinking about wonderful the young woman was, especially her natural beauty.

"She sounds like a wonderful young woman, and you should be very thankful to have someone like her for a girlfriend Shaggy; if I were you I would keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't fall in love with some other guy, or that Ben Ravencroft" Jack replied.

"Like I know, and that's why I want to keep an eye on that so called author, but not be jealous at the same time" Shaggy explained.

"Well as I said jealousy is a perfectly normal emotion, and you can be jealous of another man or guy if you want, it's perfectly fine" Jack replied.

"Like it is?" Shaggy asked somewhat confused.

"Sure, but you can't let jealousy get the better of you in any way" Jack replied.

"Hmm… you know Jack that's great advice, and I will definitely keep it in mind" Shaggy remarked; while the cowardly young warlock/detective and his Great Dane continued speaking with the friendly restaurant owner and enjoying their meal, the other members of Mystery Inc. along with Ben Ravencroft and hundreds of other townspeople were at the same park where the Puritan Village was and were waiting with baited breath for the spirit of Sarah Ravencroft.

Unfortunately for the citizens of Oak Haven, the members of Mystery Inc. and the famous author they had to wait several hours for the ghost to make an appearance, even then the time was not very well spent as after several hours the ghost had failed to make her appearance, which mostly the citizens of the small town, although it also disappointed the young sleuths and their guest as well.

"So much for the ghost making an appearance tonight" a middle aged African American man with a mustache said.

"Yeah, I guess that ghost's time table is screwed up; maybe she'll make an appearance at the concert tomorrow night" a dark brown haired woman wearing a modest blue dress remarked; with that the crowd began to disburse which left Fred, Daphne, Velma and Ben Ravencoft to talk amongst themselves and wonder just when the witch's ghost would appear.

"I guess I must be the unluckiest person in the world; you know I would still like to have a chat with my ghostly ancestor, maybe she can tell me where the journal is hidden" Ben remarked.

"Ben really seems obsessed with finding that book, doesn't he?" Velma commented in a whispered voice.

"Yeah, he does; well we can't give up, I think we can still find the book somewhere in Oak Haven, after all there's still a lot of ground to cover and once Shaggy and Scooby meet us we should be able to track down that journal easily" Fred remarked.

Meanwhile back inside the small restaurant Shaggy and Scooby were finishing eating their meal; once they were done, they got up from their table and began walking towards the door of the small diner; Jack, the owner of the establishment met the duo at the front counter of the restaurant to ask them if they enjoyed their meal and to wish them well as they left.

"So did you two like the food?" Jack asked.

"Like we sure did, I don't think I've ever eaten that well in my life" Shaggy replied, while feeling as if he needed to be rolled out of the restaurant.

"I'm glad to hear it, and I sure hope you'll come back and visit again before you leave Oak Haven" Jack said quite jovially as the cowardly duo had now reached the door.

"Like we'll sure try and we really enjoyed the entire meal; thanks for everything Jack" Shaggy replied as he and Scooby walked out the door.

"Not a problem boys, and I was happy to have you here" Jack said right before Shaggy closed the door to the diner as he and Scooby left the establishment; the cowardly teen warlock and his canine companion then walked out into the streets of the small New England village, somewhat nervous of the fact that it was so dark, even though there were street lamps lit, well at least one of the two was somewhat afraid, specifically the chicken hearted Great Dane named Scooby Doo.

"Like you know something Scoob, normally on a night like this I might be really nervous or afraid, heck maybe I would be whistling to try and calm myself down, but for some reason, and maybe it's because I'm a warlock now, I'm really not that scared; in fact if I wanted to I could zap anything I might consider a threat, or any monster or creature that we might face, heck if that witch's ghost shows up again I could take care of her easily" Shaggy remarked, somewhat confidently as he strolled down the cobblestone street.

"Roh yeah? Reak for rourself Rhaggy" Scooby replied, as a few seconds later the cowardly canine began whistling; unlike his adolescent master, the Great Dane was somewhat nervous walking a darkened street and needed to whistle to calm himself down.

The adolescent warlock and his Great Dane were certainly a sight to behold as they walked through the streets of Oak Haven, and certainly would be a sight to behold if anyone was out walking at that time of the night; although to the people who had known Shaggy and Scooby, specifically their friends it would seem as if one of the pair had undergone a drastic change in personality, and in fact ever since he had acquired his magical abilities Shaggy Rogers had undergone a major change in his usually cowardly personality, which he would need for the rest of the mystery and for the fight ahead against a certain author and a ghost.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Normally on a dark spooky night such as this, both Shaggy and Scooby would be shaking in terror at the sight of the dark, dimly lit streets, wondering if any ghosts, ghouls or monsters would pop out and try to scare them out of their wits; but tonight things were quite different, in fact Shaggy had an almost pleased look on his face, and it seemed like he was secretly hoping that he and Scooby would run into something supernatural, just so he could use his powers against whatever foe the pair might encounter, in fact unbeknownst to Shaggy and Scooby at the moment, they would indeed encounter something frightening very soon.

As the two cowardly sleuths continued walking along the streets of the small community, they noticed that dozens of cars were passing by them; as the adolescent investigator and his canine companion watched this occurring, they assumed that something supernatural had occurred as what usually happened in Mystery Inc.'s cases and figured each of the vehicles were leaving before they incurred the wrath of the witch's ghost.

"Like I guess that ghost showed up and cast spells on everybody or something, I wonder if…" Shaggy said, chuckling a bit, although his chuckling and speech soon stopped as something popped into his mind.

"Rhat's wrong Rhaggy?" Scooby wondered, somewhat curious as to what was wrong with his friend.

"Like that witch's ghost might have cast a spell on Velma; she, she, oh I don't want to think of what might have happened to her, come on Scoob, we've got save her and the rest of the gang, they might be in trouble" Shaggy declared with a somewhat urgent tone in his voice.

"Rut ri don't rant to ret a spell rast on re, ro re rhave to go?" Scooby asked, while whimpering as usual.

"Scooby! I'm ashamed of you, one of our dear friends and my girlfriend is in danger and you don't want to help her? You know you should really get some lessons in bravery Scoob, like maybe you could use a little magic to give you some courage" Shaggy remarked in a serious tone of voice.

"Rou rive re ressons rin ravery and rourage? Ron't rake re raugh" the Great Dane chuckled.

"Scooby" Shaggy replied, clearly unamused with his cowardly pet.

"Ri ruess rince rou rave ragic, rou rould re really rave, ruh?" Scooby commented.

"Like that's right, and besides I happen to think I could use my magic to take down any villain; you know I wouldn't mind facing the Creeper, or the Gator Ghoul, or the Black Knight again, this time I wouldn't run screaming away from them, this time I could cast a spell on them, then they would be frozen in place and then we could unmask them in five minutes tops" Shaggy replied, sounding pretty sure of himself and his abilities.

"Rhaggy, rhere's rone roblem rith rhat" Scooby said.

"Like what's that?" Shaggy asked.

"Rhat if rhe rouldn't ratch rhem? Rhen rour ridea rouldn't rork" Scooby replied.

"Hmm, good point, like I guess I'll have to try harder to trap villains then; why don't we not worry about that now though, like we have to save Velma and the gang, come on!" Shaggy declared; with newfound urgency, Scooby and the teen warlock quickly walked down the side streets, however after walking about five hundred or so feet, they didn't see that a group of three oddly dressed young women were turning the corner and as a result the cowardly teen and the Great Dane knocked the three of them over.

Once Shaggy noticed that he and Scooby had accidentally bowled over the three young women, he and the Great Dane apologized for the somewhat unusual way they had met and helped the three of them up to their feet; one of the young women had black hair with what looked to be red streaks in them and wore a black and red dress, the second of the young women had auburn almost brown colored hair and wore a purple dress, although not the same color as Daphne's, while the third young woman wore a green dress and had blond hair which looked to be worn in pigtails; the canine and the teen warlock were somewhat dumbstruck by the trio of ladies and their beauty, however after a few moments of awkward silence Shaggy figured that he needed to explain he and Scooby's somewhat embarrassing greeting to the three women, so he began to strike up a conversation with them.

"Like hello there" Shaggy said as he kissed each of the three young women on their respective hands, although he had a girlfriend already, he couldn't help but try and make a good impression after he and Scooby had knocked them to the pavement.

"Hi" the three women said in unison; although to the pair of detectives it looked like the young women had fangs instead of regular teeth, which didn't seem to both the cowardly teen, however it did bother the cowardly canine, in fact it looked to Shaggy like Scooby Doo wanted to make a quick exit, but before he could run like the wind, Shaggy quickly grabbed his dog collar and told the Great Dane to stay put, which annoyed Scooby a bit, although considering Shaggy's previous threats, like no Scooby Snacks the Great Dane wisely stayed put.

"Likewise, it's really nice to meet the three of you" Shaggy remarked.

"Hey, why aren't you running away from us?" the blonde haired woman asked.

"Yeah, most people are afraid of us because of our fangs" the auburn haired woman added.

"Don't worry about it girls, after all he took the time to kiss our hands, and help us up from the ground" the black haired woman said; while she spoke, Shaggy took a moment to take some mental notes about the trio and noticed that it seemed like the black haired woman was the leader of the three, if there was a leader type among the three that is.

"So who are the three of you anyway?" Shaggy replied, somewhat curious as to why three young women were walking the streets so late at night.

"Glad you asked handsome, I'm Thorn, and this is Dusk and Luna, we're the Hex Girls, maybe you've heard of us?" the black haired woman said, introducing her friends to the cowardly pair.

"Like of course we've heard of you, Mayor Corey mentioned that you were going to play the Autumn Fest concert" Shaggy replied.

"Oh? So, are you and your dog visiting town or do you live here?" Thorn asked.

"Actually we're just visiting the area for a few days, in fact maybe you'll meet my friends before the concert" Shaggy replied.

"Wow, that would be so killer!" Thorn remarked.

"Yeah, we love meeting new people" Dusk added.

"Really? You know I think I might be able to arrange something like that" Shaggy said; however, while he was speaking to the trio of women, he felt someone tugging on the collar of his green t shirt, naturally he was curious as to who would be bothering him, but was surprised when he saw that Scooby Doo was the one who was tugging on his shirt, so he turned to ask his Great Dane what he needed.

"Hey, that's a really cool dog" Thorn remarked, looking towards the cowardly canine.

"Like thanks, his name is Scooby Doo and he's a Great Dane" Shaggy replied, all the while Scooby was still tugging on his shirt.

"What's up Scooby Doo?" Shaggy asked as he turned to face his canine pal.

"Re rhave ro ret roing Rhaggy" Scooby replied in a low, almost whispering voice.

"Wow, did that dog just talk?" Thorn asked.

"He sure did, at first it was a little weird, but once you get used to it, it's not really that odd" Shaggy replied.

"So you and your friends can understand your Great Dane when he talks?" Dusk asked.

"Of course, he can be really friendly once you get used to him or when he gets used to you; although sometimes he can be a bit of a chicken" Shaggy remarked, although saying the last part under his breath.

"Looks like that to me; and I guess your dog is trying to still get your attention" Thorn replied as Scooby continued to tug on Shaggy's shirt.

"Huh, oh like I guess you're right; what's up Scooby?" Shaggy asked.

"Re rahve to ret roing, re rere roing to reet our riends" Scooby replied.

"Like that's right, I forgot about that; well it was nice to meet all of you and we hope to see you again soon" Shaggy remarked.

"Don't worry, you will; bye Shaggy and Scooby" Thorn replied, smiling and waving at the duo; as the three musicians walked away, leaving the two cowardly and hungry sleuths to talk amongst themselves yet again.

"Roy rhose rhree rere rary reren't rhey Rhaggy?" Scooby asked.

"I don't know Scoob, I thought they were harmless to be honest" Shaggy replied.

"Rare rou ridding rhey rhad rangs, rand rhey rooked rike witches!" Scooby declared nervously.

"Aw come on Scooby, you don't believe in ghosts and witches do you?" Shaggy inquired.

"Rof rourse I ro, resides rou're a rarlock raren't rou?" Scooby asked.

"Yes Scooby, but I'm a good warlock; I don't use my powers for evil, I don't abuse them and I only use them to help people and help capture any villain that we face so we can unmask them, I would never use them to scare or frighten people" Shaggy explained.

"Rut, rou rould rill re raring reople, row is rhat rany rifferent from rhen re raw the Rex Rirls?" Scooby asked.

"Scoob, like I said I would be scaring people who are crooks, people who deserve scaring in the first place and who will most likely go to jail, to be honest" Shaggy replied.

"Rhat rakes rense ri ruess" Scooby remarked.

"Thanks Scooby, I figured you would think that, now we have to meet the rest of the gang" Shaggy replied; with that the young warlock and Scooby Doo quickly walked down the streets hoping that they were able to find Velma, Fred and Daphne before something happened to them.

After about five minutes of brisk walking down the streets, Shaggy suddenly stopped which surprised Scooby Doo a little; the Great Dane then tapped his cowardly master on the shoulder and began asking him why he had stopped walking down the street and if there was something wrong.

"Rhaggy?" Scooby inquired.

"Like what's up Scoob?" Shaggy asked.

"Row rome rou rust ropped rall of a rudden?" Scooby responded.

"Like I'm not sure Scooby, but I think some one or something not of this world is in our presence" Shaggy said in a somewhat ominous voice.

"R-rot of rhis rorld?" Scooby asked with a whimper.

"Yes" Shaggy replied.

"Ri'm afraid to ask, rut roes rhat rinclude rhe rtich's rhost?" Scooby inquired.

"Right" Shaggy replied; moments later both sleuths could hear a noise coming from some nearby bushes, for Scooby it was time to act as he usually did, mainly cowardly, while for Shaggy the strange rustling noise meant it was time for him to use his magic powers against a villain; the cowardly teen warlock then took a deep breath and stood his ground as he prepared to face whatever foe that was scaring up trouble in Oak Haven.

Moments later the rustling noises grew louder and without warning a spectral looking witch rose into the air and hovered above the pair of detectives; the being wore a green pointed hat, and an old fashioned Colonial style of clothing as she loomed above Shaggy and Scooby's head, Scooby Doo then tried to escape the frightening sight of the being, however he was stopped suddenly by Shaggy, who used a small spell on his Great Dane to force him to be brave.

"So, what do we have here?" the specter asked, eyeing the two detectives up and down.

"Like your worst nightmare, that's what you have here" Shaggy replied, his voice raising a little as he spoke; the being then rose higher into the air and began speaking menacingly as she attempted to scare Shaggy and Scooby out of their wits.

"You two will never stop me from taking my revenge against this town, it will pay for what it has done to me!" the specter said, cackling evilly; however as the ghost prepared to go after Shaggy and Scooby, the cowardly warlock then raised his arms, ready to cast a spell on the ghost to ground her once and for all, however he was unable to do so because Scooby Doo had broken teen's spell and rushed over to grab Shaggy from where he was standing.

The chicken hearted Great Dane then ran down the streets as fast as his four paws could carry him away from the spectral sorceress, who then decided to use some of her powers, specifically throwing fireballs at the cowardly pair; after about five minutes of running Scooby and Shaggy turned the corner of one of the city's side streets hoping to continue their escape, although because they were running they didn't notice that Fred, Daphne, Velma and Ben were also walking down the streets and as you might expect the cowardly duo soon collided with their three friends and the famous author and knocked them to the ground.

"Zoinks, like I am so sorry Velma, here let me help you up" Shaggy stated as he pulled the bespectacled young woman up to her feet; the young investigator then stood with her hand on Shaggy's shoulder, trying to steady herself on the cobblestone street, while Ben Ravencroft stood up and helped the red headed young woman and the blond haired young man to their feet.

"Thanks Shaggy, that was really nice of you to help keep my steady" Velma replied with a smile on her face.

"Not a problem Velma, I was glad to do it; are you okay though is what I would like to know?" Shaggy inquired.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, just a little shaken up from our collision, by the way what were you two running from anyway?" Velma asked, dusting some dirt off from her sweater.

"Well, like I wasn't running that's for sure; but Scooby was, tell Velma what we were running from, or rather you were running from Scoob?" Shaggy remarked as he folded his arms together, looking a bit annoyed with his canine companion.

"Rell I rever" Scooby replied, sounding also somewhat annoyed as he folded his arms together.

"Never mind that now Scooby, tell Velma and the gang who or what we saw" Shaggy stated.

"Rokay, re raw rhe ritch's rhost" Scooby explained.

"You saw the witch's ghost?" Velma asked.

"That's great guys, where did you see her?" Fred added.

"Well, after we left the restaurant; we walked down the street and we weren't watching where we were going, which seems to happen a lot to us, and we saw and talked to three girls, or maybe they were witches, we weren't quite sure" Shaggy replied.

"Three girls? And you thought they were witches? Hmm, very interesting, so what happened after that guys?" Velma asked.

"Well after we said goodbye to the girls, we saw the witch's ghost; man was she a scary sight, she floated through the air and threw fireballs at us, although I really think I could have taken her if Scooby wouldn't have chickened out and carried me away" Shaggy replied.

"Rou're relcome" Scooby remarked, shaking his head as he spoke.

"Never mind that you guys; Shaggy, Scooby, can you tell us exactly where you saw the Witch's Ghost?" Fred asked.

"Sure gang, but why would you need to know that? Wouldn't it make more sense to stay in this general area to look for her?" Shaggy inquired.

"In a way it would Shaggy, but if we want to find her we need to have an exact location as to where she was spotted last, and since you and Scooby saw her last…" Fred stated.

"Like then it's up to us to lead you guys to where she is, or where she might be" Shaggy replied.

"Right, now let's get going; but first you guys have to tell us exactly where you spotted the ghost, and we mean the exact location," Fred noted.

"Like don't worry Fred, we're on it; come on gang" Shaggy replied; the cowardly warlock led the gang down the cobblestone streets before rounding a corner, soon the green shirted sleuth was standing in the exact same spot as the two of them saw the witch's ghost earlier as they related the events that had happened to them after they left the restaurant once again.

"Here we are, like this is where the witch's ghost floated above us and this is where she also threw fireballs at us" Shaggy explained.

"Good work you two, now let's all look around for clues" Fred replied; with that the team of detectives began searching the street and the sidewalk for anything that would qualify as strange or suspicious, or anything that would lead the gang to the truth behind the ghost of Oak Haven, finally Daphne pointed out something that seemed to litter the sidewalk and street, and alerted her fellow investigators to this as well.

"Jeepers, gang I think I found something" Daphne remarked; the rest of the sleuths and Ben Ravencroft then looked at the spot where the red head was pointing and saw that there several dozen or so broken tree branches littering the street, which piqued the bespectacled young woman of the group's curiosity.

"Hmm… now why would there be broken branches on the streets?" Velma thought aloud.

"Like there's something else Velma, take a look at those trees" Shaggy said as he pointed out to a series of foliage that lined the Main Street of the small New England town; the bespectacled young woman noticed that the branches were broken in what looked to be a completely straight line and pattern, which made her somewhat curious once again.

"I think you're right Shaggy; not only are there broken tree branches, but they seem to all be broken in an exact straight line; I mean it's really weird, there's no gaps in the line of broken branches at the top of those trees at all" Velma replied.

"That is strange Velma; maybe we should follow the broken trees and see where they lead us" Ben explained.

"Good thinking Ben, come on everybody" Velma replied; with that the five sleuths and their new acquaintance walked down the streets, following the broken tree branches which seemed to lead directly from where the cowardly duo spotted the specter to of all places Oak Haven Park where the gang had been earlier and where the Puritan Village was located; meanwhile as the gang walked, Shaggy began to mull over the most recent clues the gang had found, as well as other things.

"_Hmm… there's something suspicious about this, why would all those branches be broken in a straight line? And how did all those branches become broken in the first place? I wonder…"_ Shaggy thought to himself; soon the gang noticed that they were a few miles away from the park, in addition they noticed that there was what seemed to be bright lights coming from the park, almost similar to the Aurora Borealis; of course the members of Mystery Inc. knew that wasn't true because they were in Massachusetts and the Northern Lights were usually found in the Northern portions of Canada and Alaska.

The lights seemed to be almost like the beacon of a Lighthouse as they led Mystery Inc. towards the park and a possible clue as to the mystery of the Witch's Ghost of Oak Haven; after about five minutes of walking, Scooby Doo and the rest of his mystery solvers made their way through a grove of trees and as they walked further they had discovered what looked to be theater style lights and a stage; there also seemed to be special wind, light and other types of effects set up around the stage, which were put on display as what looked like a red mist began developing on the stage.

Soon the mist vanished and three young women dressed in rather unusual looking and a bit revealing clothing appeared; one was a black haired young woman with what looked to be red streaks in them and wore a black and red dress who stood at the front of the stage with what looked to be a microphone in her hand.

The second of the young women had auburn almost brown colored hair, wore a purple dress, although not the same color as Daphne's and was seated at what looked to be a keyboard, while the third young woman wore a green dress, had blond hair which looked to be worn in pigtails and was seated at a drum set, while she held what looked to be drumsticks in her hands; soon Shaggy and Scooby realized who these girls were and recognized them from when they had met them earlier in the evening, although the Great Dane was still as nervous as he had been during their first meeting when he saw the women on the stage.

"Ripe, rhe witches!" Scooby declared, while whimpering.

"Relax Scooby, those aren't witches; those are the women we met earlier tonight: the Hex Girls" Shaggy replied.

"You guys know the Hex Girls?" Fred asked.

"Like sort of, they were the women who Scooby thought were witches that we were telling you about" Shaggy replied.

"Wow, that's pretty cool" Fred remarked.

For the moment the gang was unaware that the Hex Girls could see them, and took the opportunity to continue what they had been doing before the team of sleuths arrived, specifically practicing for their Autumn Fest concert; as the three young women sung and performed their way through the song, Velma scooted closer to Shaggy and watched him, while Ben Ravencroft watched the bespectacled young woman closely; in addition Daphne was also watching Fred fairly closely, while Scooby Doo was just standing on his four paws watching the proceedings with some curiosity.

Halfway through the song it appeared to the gang that the young woman who was the lead singer of the musical group seemed to be pointing to the two male members of Mystery Inc., as they watched the young woman sing Shaggy and Fred seemed to be in a trance as it looked at least to the female members of the group that the light brown haired sleuth and the unofficial leader of the group were attracted to her beauty, much to the chagrin of Daphne who jabbed Fred in the shoulder and to the chagrin of Velma who stepped on Shaggy's foot; both young men tried to figure out why their respective girlfriends had done this, but Daphne and Velma eventually folded their arms together, looking quite annoyed with them.

Soon the Hex Girls wrapped up their song, which led to the gang applauding at the performance of the three member rock band; the trio of young women then spotted the gang and Ben Ravencroft and decided to step down from the stage to greet them, naturally the trio of singers were a bit surprised to see someone crashing their practice, but they did seem to be interested in why they were there, especially a group of people and a dog like Scooby Doo and his friends.

"Thanks for the applause, now what are you doing here?" the black haired woman asked.

"Oh like hi Thorn, remember me?" Shaggy responded.

"I think so, you're Shaggy right?" Thorn answered.

"Sure am, and like you remember Scooby Doo right?" Shaggy inquired.

"Of course we do, hi Scooby" Dusk said, baring her fangs.

"Rello" Scooby replied nervously.

"So these must be your friends right?" Luna asked.

"They certainly are, gang these are the three ladies we meet earlier tonight: Thorn, Dusk and Luna, otherwise known as the Hex Girls, ladies these are my friends: Fred, Daphne, Velma and our guest the world famous author Ben Ravencroft" Shaggy said as he introduced everyone, although once he got to introducing Velma he sighed dreamily, while he gritted through his teeth during Ben Ravencroft's introduction.

"Wow, you mean you're the Ben Ravencroft?" Thorn asked, as she shook the black haired author's hand.

"Why? You're not going to bite me are you?" Ben asked, while noticing the trio's fangs, although he stated this in somewhat of a joking manner.

"Nah, you know what we're into, you're kind of like us in a way" Thorn replied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean Thorn; actually to tell the truth, I kind of realize what you guys are into, because well I'm sort of into the same things as you girls" Shaggy said in a somewhat proud sounding voice.

"Cool, can you tell us what you mean Shaggy?" Thorn inquired.

"Well, like I don't really want to get specific, but let's just say that I have a lot in common with David Copperfield and Penn and Teller" Shaggy replied with a wink.

"Wow, that's pretty cool Shaggy; we're Eco-Goths ourselves" Thorn explained.

"Reco-Roths?" Scooby inquired.

"Yes, and we happen to enjoy it for your information" Dusk replied.

"Okay; you know those explosions were pretty mystifying, are those special effects for your concerts?" Fred asked.

"Sure are, we use them as part of the whole image that we create for ourselves when we perform, it's really fun and a lot of our fans like it; well, we have to back to rehearsing, will we see you tomorrow night for the concert?" Thorn inquired.

"You can count on it ladies, we'll see you then" Shaggy replied.

"Cool, bye guys" Thorn said as she, Dusk and Luna waved goodbye before returning to their rehearsal; a few moments later, Scooby Doo and the rest of Mystery Inc. along with Ben Ravencroft stood by a grove of trees attempting to figure out their battle plan to find the Witch's Ghost as well as other things.

"Like that Thorn was pretty interesting huh Fred?" Shaggy asked.

"You're right on that one Shaggy; and something tells me she'll be worth watching when we split up and look for clues, which should be fairly soon, or as soon as we figure out how we're splitting up" Fred replied.

"Yeah, so how are we going to split up?" Daphne asked.

"I'm glad you asked Daphne, well first you and I will…" Fred began explaining before he was cut off by the red headed member of the group who raised her hand.

"Freddie, I know what you're going to say, and I don't think following Thorn is a good idea" Daphne replied.

"But Daphne, if she's the lead of the Hex Girls maybe she'll be worth following" Fred responded.

"I know Freddie, but I don't want…" Daphne replied, before stopping in mid-sentence.

"Don't want what Daphne?" Fred asked.

"Nothing, it's nothing" Daphne said.

"Okay, if you insist nothing's wrong; although if it means that much to you I guess we won't follow the Hex Girls then" Fred replied.

"Thanks Freddie, that means a lot to me" Daphne said with a smile.

"No problem Daphne, so how are we going to do this? I mean someone has to follow the Hex Girls" Fred explained.

"Like I have an idea Fred" Shaggy remarked.

"Okay, what's your idea Shag?" Fred asked.

"Like why don't Scooby and I follow the Hex Girls?" Shaggy replied.

"Hmm… I guess that would be a good idea Shaggy, then Ben and I can look for clues as to why those branches were broken and as to the whereabouts of the witch's ghost," Velma stated.

"Like Velma, I thought that the four of us, or you, me and Scooby could look for clues together" Shaggy said as he walked over to the intelligent young woman and whispered to her.

"I'm sorry Shaggy, but I'm really enjoying my time with Ben, hopefully that's okay with you and Scooby" Velma replied.

"Yeah, like I guess so" Shaggy said, although he didn't show it on his face, Velma's words were like a stake through his heart as in the back of his mind Shaggy felt a bit depressed once again that Velma had chosen her author idol over Shaggy.

"Okay, so Shaggy, you and Scooby Doo follow the Hex Girls and see what they're up to, Velma you and Ben see if you can find out more about the broken branches and the ghost, while Daphne and I will investigate the mayor, he seems like he's up to something too, and he might just be in on whatever's going on" Fred explained.

"Gee why do you and Daphne always look for clues together?" Velma asked, while Daphne stood next to Fred, smiling as the bespectacled young woman spoke.

"Like probably the same reason why you and I split up together a lot Velma" Shaggy said, smiling back at the bespectacled young woman and winking at her.

"Ah, in that case it's probably a good idea; come on Ben let's go" Velma replied as she smiled back; with that the bespectacled young woman and the author walked away to begin their journey to look for clues.

"Like I guess we better get going too Scooby Doo, come on" Shaggy added as he and the cowardly Great Dane started walking away to follow the three female musicians that they met earlier; with the other members of the group gone, Fred and Daphne were left standing near a grove of trees to ponder their investigation, but before they could do that the red headed wealthy young woman wanted to speak with Fred about a matter of great importance.

"So Freddie, I was thinking about what Velma and Shaggy said, and I wouldn't mind knowing the answer: why do you always pair us up during a mystery?" Daphne inquired, while smiling at Fred.

"Well Daphne, I've been thinking about that for the longest time, and to tell the truth I guess it's time that I, well that I answer that question; you see Daphne, this question has been haunting me for many years now, I must have thought about this moment every time that we've been together, every time that I've held your hand, every time that we've danced together, even the time that we've been apart I've always been thinking about this" Fred said, taking a deep breath before taking the red head's delicate, gentle hand and gazing into her deep blue eyes.

"Freddie, what is it? What question have you been thinking about?" Daphne asked, taking Fred's hand and looking back into his eyes.

"Daphne, we've been friends for years, ever since we were little; and ever since then I've well, always had an eye for you, that is to say I've always noticed how beautiful you were, your hair, your eyes, everything about you is so magnificent, and I guess that's why I'm…" Fred replied after taking a deep breath.

"Freddie, what are you trying to say?" Daphne asked, beginning to get somewhat impatient with the blond young adult.

"Daphne, what I'm trying to say is that I-I love you" Fred replied, before exhaling; the red head then smiled at the blond young adult and then walked over to kiss him on the cheek, which surprised him greatly.

"Daphne, what-what was that for?" Fred asked.

"Well Freddie, it was because I feel the same way about you, and I have felt the same way about you for the longest time, ever since we were kids; sure we got off on the wrong foot a bit back in elementary school and junior high, but in the back of my mind I was always thinking about you, and the fact that, well I love you, I always have and always will" Daphne replied as she smiled at the blond haired young man.

"Daphne, I don't know what to really say, I mean I've always thought that you were the most beautiful girl in the world, with the most perfect eyes and hair, the most beautiful clothes, heck even your smile is perfect, you're, you're like a princess from a fairy tale, you remind me so much of Cinderella, or Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, and I've always dreamed of this moment, for as long as I've been alive I've always wanted to tell you how I feel and now that I have, it's like a dream come true" Fred explained.

"Freddie, you know I've always thought you were the most handsome guy in the world too, you have the most wonderful eyes, the most handsome looking clothes, even your ascot is wonderful, it was the most wonderful orange color I've ever seen; to sum it all up, I've always thought you were like a prince in a fairy tale, almost like Aladdin or Prince Charming, I had always dreamed of this moment too, and now that it has arrived, it's like a dream come true for me too" Daphne replied.

"Daphne, now that I've told you how I feel about you, I want to tell you that nothing is going to change between us; I mean we're I know we've been hanging out together for years, but now it just feels like we can bring our relationship out into the open, don't you?" Fred asked, looking into Daphne's bright blue eyes once again.

"Freddie, nothing has ever changed, nor will it ever change with us, I love you and you love me, that's all there is to it; and as for bringing our relationship out into the open, it already has been brought out into the open" Daphne replied.

"But Daphne, what about Shaggy, Velma and Scooby? I'm worried that the rest of the gang might not accept our being together, and that it might break Mystery Inc. up, I mean all you guys are my friends and if the five of us aren't friends, I don't know what I would do" Fred remarked; the red head then placed her hand on Fred's shoulder and began speaking to him, she then smiled and looked into his eyes once again.

"Freddie, you know Velma and Shaggy are in love, even with Ben Ravencroft tagging along; if they can show that they are boyfriend and girlfriend and a couple to other people, and if their relationship is out in the open, then we can have our relationship out in the open and we can be a couple and not worry about what everyone else thinks; actually you know something Freddie?" Daphne said.

"What Daphne?" Fred asked.

"I think with two couples in Mystery Inc., the gang will never break up; sure we'll take time off from solving mysteries, and sure we might have kids, and raise a family, but we'll always hang out as much as we can with each other, and we'll always stay friends; the five of us have the greatest bond that any group of friends can ever have, and nothing is going to change about that, when one of us is sick or not feeling well, then the others always try and cheer up the sick person, no matter what it takes; so Freddie, I know for a fact that Mystery Inc. will never break up, ever" Daphne replied, looking deeply into the blond young adult's eyes with pure devotion.

"You know something Daphne, I agree with you, I've always agreed with you and I know that whenever you speak, everything that you say is the truth" Fred stated, looking deeply into Daphne's eyes, which appeared to him as pools of blue water, which whenever he looked into them he seemed to get lost similar to how a sailor would get lost at sea; although whenever Daphne spoke it sounded to Fred like the call of a Siren, leading him closer to her and when he blinked it was like he had been rescued after months at sea.

"Thanks Freddie, you know I really care about you" Daphne replied.

"You know I care a lot about you too Daphne" Fred remarked, which caused the red head to blush; the two young adults then looked into each other's eyes, studying each other's looks, hair, faces and clothing, soon the pair of sleuths moved closer and closer to one another, and soon the red head and the blond young adult were only inches away from one another's faces.

At first Fred and Daphne couldn't do anything more then stare into each other's eyes, entranced by each other's looks; time then seemed to stand still in Oak Haven and for Fred Jones and Daphne Blake as they gazed at each other with utter and complete devotion in each of their eyes, soon both young adults noticed that not only were their eyes getting closer, but their lips were moving closer to one another as well.

Noticing this Daphne and Fred then began to prepare for the inevitable moment when their lips would meet, which seemed to get closer and closer, their mouths were only millimeters away from each other now and seconds later the red head and the blond young adult's lips finally met, and when they did Fred and Daphne engaged in a kiss that seemed to last for hours, but in reality lasted about a minute.

Once the red head and the blond young adult ended their kiss, they slowly broke apart from each other's arms; it seemed like only a few moments ago that Fred and Daphne had been involved in one of the most wonderful moments in each of their young lives, as both of them had finally admitted their true feelings for one another; not only did the two of them admit their true feelings for one another, but each of them found out that the other person had true, indisputable love for the other.

Standing in the small Oak Haven Park Fred Jones and Daphne Blake found that of all the situations they had ever been in and in all the places they had traveled across the United States and around the globe, that in Oak Haven, Massachusetts of all places their relationship had been taken to the next level and that after so many years of mystery solving and friendship, it was clear that the two of them had proven their love and devotion for each other and as they gazed into each other's eyes they both knew that no supernatural creature, no ghost, monster or villain, or no person alive for that matter could ever or would ever break them apart.

Author's Notes: Hopefully I didn't over do it with the kissing scene, also to everyone who wanted to see the scene from the movie where Fred was going to tell Daphne about how he felt about her only to be interrupted by the Hex Girls, I set the scene correctly and wrote the scene the right way; also thanks to everybody for reading and reviewing my stories as usual, I greatly appreciate all the reviews and critiques that I get and I see and read all of them, thank you.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

While Fred and Daphne embarked on their investigation to locate the mayor of the city of Oak Haven, Scooby and Shaggy walked down the streets of the quaint New England village following the Goth girl band the Hex Girls; the cowardly pair followed the three female musicians to a small clearing, which confused Shaggy and Scooby a bit considering what they had found out about the women so far; realizing that the trio of musicians might hear Shaggy and Scooby, or might spot them Shaggy and Scooby quickly hid behind a nearby hedge and watched the musicians from afar.

"Rhat are rhey roing Rhaggy?" Scooby inquired.

"Like I'm not sure Scooby, but let's watch them and see what they're up to" Shaggy replied.

"Ro you think they're involved rith the witch's ghost Rhaggy?" Scooby inquired.

"Scooby, like I wouldn't put it past them to be somehow involved with the ghost, especially since they look the part" Shaggy replied.

"Rook the rart? Rhat do rou rean Rhaggy?" Scooby inquired.

"Well like think about it, Thorn, Dusk and Luna are dressed in those weird clothes right?" Shaggy asked.

"Right" Scooby answered.

"And they even said themselves they're Eco-Goths, plus they use all those explosions and that mist on stage right?" Shaggy inquired.

"Rhat's right Rhaggy" Scooby responded.

"So like since they use all that stuff and look like witches, there's a distinct possibility that the Hex Girls might dress up or disguise themselves as the witch's ghost" Shaggy replied.

"Rhy Rhaggy?" Scooby asked.

"Well Scooby like maybe they decided to create this witch's ghost legend to stir up publicity for their concert, and there's a possibility that since they're a band, they might have a new CD or something, so they might be stirring up publicity for that too" Shaggy explained.

"Rut Rhaggy, rhe rayor raid rhat rhe witch's rhost ras reen raunting rhe rarea ror ronths, ro row rould the Rex Rirls rossibly rhave romething to ro rith the rhost?" Scooby asked.

"Like that's a good question Scoob, but I just think that those three have something to do with the witch's ghost, I can sense it" Shaggy replied.

"Rou ran rense it? Rid rou rook rhough rheir roughts and rouls rike Ren Ravencroft?" the Great Dane inquired.

"Well no Scooby I didn't, but if those girls don't have something to do with the ghost, then my name is Scooby Doo, and your're Shaggy Rogers and a warlock" Shaggy replied.

"Rawesome, ri always ranted ro rhave ragic" Scooby responded.

"Um Scooby, I was just messing with you buddy, I am still Shaggy after all" the cowardly young adult remarked.

"Ri know Rhaggy, ro row are re roing to rind out rhat the Rex Rirls are up to?" Scooby inquired.

"Simple old buddy, we listen to them and find out what their plans are, now be quiet, because I think they're going to speak" Shaggy said.

"Rokay Rhaggy" Scooby replied in a whisper.

As the chicken hearted Great Dane and the cowardly warlock hid in the bushes, Thorn, Dusk and Luna, the three members of the Goth rock group known as the Hex Girls stood on the Cobblestone path and began discussing some very unusual matters, unusual to Shaggy and Scooby of course, but not to the three female musicians.

"So are we going to perform the ritual tonight?" Thorn asked.

"Ugh, not tonight, my powers are too weak, maybe we can perform the ritual before the concert tomorrow?" Luna suggested.

"Yeah, that way our powers would be at our strongest, and we would be at our peak" Dusk added.

"Well if you two want to do the ritual tomorrow night then go right ahead, but I want to do it tonight, besides I have no problem with performing it myself" Thorn remarked.

"Okay if you insist, see you tomorrow night for the concert then?" Dusk asked.

"Sounds good to me" Luna agreed.

"Then we're agreed, see you then and bad dreams sisters" Thorn said as she performed a sort of sprinkling motion with her hands, similar to what the Sandman would do when he would put someone to sleep towards the other two female musicians.

"Bad dreams sister Thorn" Dusk and Luna said in unison, doing the exact same sprinkling motion, only back at the black haired woman; with that Dusk and Luna headed away from the area and towards their respective houses, considering that they both lived in Oak Haven, meanwhile Thorn began walking through the clearing which left Shaggy and Scooby with another quandary.

"Hmm… like that's funny, why would the three of them split up? Like those three looked inseparable when we saw them the last two times and now they split up? Very unusual, although I guess a twenty something year old young man who's a warlock and a talking Great Dane hiding in a bush could be considered pretty unusual too" Shaggy remarked.

"Reah, ro Rhaggy rhat are re roing to ro? Rould re rollow Rusk and Runa or rould re rollow Rhorn?" Scooby asked.

"Like that's a good question Scooby Doo, although Thorn seems to me to be the leader of the group, so we should probably follow her; besides, something about her, I don't know what it is but there's just something about her personality or something" Shaggy remarked.

"Rhat about rher Rhaggy?" Scooby asked.

"I'm just not sure Scooby Doo, I mean she seems captivating, almost like she has me under a spell; I mean I know I'm in love with Velma, but still there's something about Thorn that makes me feel just like I do when I'm around Vel" Shaggy replied.

"Rhaggy, ri'm ronfused; rare rou in rove rith Rhorn? Recause I rought rou rere in rove rith Relma?" Scooby inquired.

"Like I said Scooby, I don't know; Thorn just seems like a woman who could put any guy under her spell, maybe she's a witch, I just don't know" Shaggy responded.

"Roh rokay, ro roes rhat rean rhat rou're rtuck on Rhorn?" Scooby said, chuckling as he spoke.

"Stuck on Thorn? Oh very funny Scooby Doo, very funny; like don't let me stop you now, if you have any other good jokes, throw them at me, I would love to hear them" Shaggy replied, folding his arms and looking a bit impatient with his Great Dane.

"Ri'm rorry Rhaggy, ri rust rhough rhat rou right have reen in rove rith Rhorn and rot Relma" Scooby remarked.

"Scooby, how can you say that? I love Velma as my girlfriend, almost as much as I like having you as a friend and pet" Shaggy replied.

"Really?" Scooby asked.

"Of course old buddy; although let's say that I was in love with Thorn, would you be okay with it?" Shaggy inquired.

"Rof rourse Rhaggy, ri rould re okay rith rhoever rou rere in rove rith, ror rhoever rou rere rating" Scooby replied.

"Um Scoob, are you sure about that?" Shaggy asked.

"Rof rourse, row rome rou rasked?' the canine sleuth inquired.

"Well, remember when Velma and I first dated, you got upset because I didn't watch that horror movie marathon with you and I went out with Velma instead, then there was the time that you growled at her when I went missing during a mystery, I was really embarrassed that my best friend and my girlfriend would be angry with each other" Shaggy explained.

"Reah, rut rhen rou and I ralked about it rand rou explained it to re, ri ridn't have a problem rith it and I rapologized to you and Relma" Scooby replied.

"And like I'm glad you did Scooby Doo, because I really hated having my two best friends be at each other's throats" Shaggy commented.

"Reah, ri ridn't rike it either; rut row re're all friends again" Scooby replied.

"We sure are Scooby Doo, we sure are; now, like let's follow Thorn and see exactly what she's up to" Shaggy remarked.

"Rokay Rhaggy" Scooby replied; the Great Dane and the cowardly warlock then came out from behind the bushes and began following the leader of the Hex Girls carefully and quietly so that the young woman wouldn't spot them or hear them.

A few moments later the cowardly warlock and the chicken hearted Great Dane realized that they had followed the female singer several hundred feet down the path, through a white picket gate and into the yard of a two story colonial style house, painted entirely in the same color of white as the gate was.

The two of them figured the female singer would be going into the house to take a nap, get something to eat or doing some cleaning around the residence, however they were a bit surprised to see that the female singer had bypassed the main house, walked into the backyard and into a small brown wooden shack; she then brought out a small key and opened the door to the small shed, a few moments later she walked inside, while Shaggy and Scooby Doo snuck up to the windows and watched her secretly.

Shaggy and Scooby then watched the young musician light a couple of candles, after she lit the candles, she went over to a small shelf and brought a few jars over to what looked to be a work bench; next she opened the jars and placed some of the items from them into what looked to be a small cup, or possibly a bowl, once she had done that she took what seemed to be a wooden spatula and ground the strange ingredients to a fine powder, finally she held the bowl to her face and began breathing in the mysterious aroma.

The cowardly pair of sleuths were a bit perplexed by this as they watched Thorn, the leader of the trio of female musicians known as the Hex Girls, perform what seemed to be a peculiar ritual in the small wooden shack; while Shaggy and Scooby watched, they could almost swear that the ritual that the female musician was performing, or in the midst of performing was something akin to magic or sorcery, in fact Shaggy and Scooby began to discuss this possible fact amongst themselves while they continued to watch Thorn from a distance.

"Rhat is rhe roing Rhaggy?" Scooby inquired.

"Hmm… like I don't know Scooby Doo, I don't know; but I think I have a good idea as to what it's for" Shaggy replied.

"Rhat Rhaggy?" Scooby asked.

"Like if I didn't know any better and considering I'm a warlock and know about this stuff, I would say that ritual Thorn is performing is part of some magic spell; wait a minute, that's it! We were right Scoob, Thorn and the Hex Girls are witches!" Shaggy replied, as he said the last part of the statement loudly.

Naturally Shaggy's loudness attracted Thorn's attention as she turned around and looked out the window; luckily for Shaggy and Scooby though, Thorn happened to miss the two of them standing in the bushes, as they had ducked down close to the ground before she looked out the window; shrugging the event off as nothing, Thorn finished the ritual and placed the bowl back down before returning through the picket gate and venturing back into her house.

Once the door closed, Shaggy and Scooby Doo stood up from their rather uncomfortable positions and proceeded to stretch themselves out, which was probably a good idea considering they were sore from squatting down in the bushes; after observing the leader of the musical group known as the Hex Girls performing her strange ritual, the cowardly pair decided to hang around for a few moments, just in case Thorn were to exit the house and continue whatever she was up to inside the shed.

Meanwhile, in another portion of Oak Haven, Velma and Ben Ravencroft began walking away from the park where they spoke with the rest of Mystery Inc. to figure out where each of them was going to search, eventually the two of them walked through several streets before reaching what looked to be an old barn, which was of course locked.

"Hmm… I wonder what's in there?" Velma inquired aloud.

"Well, we'll never know; the door's locked" Ben replied, attempting to open the door, albeit failing miserably.

"Oh yes we will, boost me up Ben" Velma explained.

"Are you sure about this Velma?" Ben asked.

"Sure I am" Velma replied.

"All right, if you say so Velma" Ben said, still somewhat unsure of the young woman's plan.

As he stood in front of the old barn, Ben waited for Velma to climb up onto his shoulders, which she did; after the young investigator climbed up onto Ben Ravencroft's shoulders, the author then moved closer to the old barn and attempted to get close enough so that Velma could get inside the barn and look around.

However, after a few moments it was becoming apparent that the young woman wasn't going to be able to reach a window towards the top of the building, so she tried to get the author to move closer to the old shed, which he did, although it wasn't as quite as easy as he thought to hold up a twenty something year old woman so that she could get inside the barn and look for clues.

"Velma, I can't hold you up much further, I'm standing on my tippie toes as it is and I don't think I can hold you up much longer" Ben remarked, straining as he spoke, which made sense considering Velma's Mary Janes were digging into the writer's shoulders while he held her up.

"Just hang on a little more Ben, I've almost to the window" Velma replied as she was now at the very top portion of the side of the barn, while she reached for the window, attempting to get inside.

Even though the young woman was very intelligent, she had a lot to learn still about gravity, for as Ben held her up and she reached for the window, specifically only a few moments after she reached said window, she attempted to get inside, but unfortunately for her once she entered the window she tumbled head first through the hay and most of the barn, while making enough noise to wake the dead in the process.

After taking a serious tumble and making enough racket to wake most of the gang and Ben Ravencroft's deceased relatives, Velma stood up inside the barn and began brushing her sweater off, while outside of the barn Ben Ravencroft, after hearing the result of the young woman's entrance into the shed, tried to make sure she was unharmed.

"Velma, Velma are you all right?" Ben inquired.

As he spoke however, he heard footsteps coming from inside the wooden building and soon he was about to receive his answer as to whether or not the young woman was okay; a few moments later he saw that the wooden door of the barn was opening and thankfully for him, Velma was standing in the doorway, safe and for the most part sound.

"I'm fine Ben, now come on let's look around and see if we can find any clues," Velma said as she and the author walked inside the small barn.

Elsewhere in Oak Haven, Fred and Daphne were in the midst of their own investigation, in this case following Mayor Corey around the small city, trying to see what he was up to; at the moment the blond young adult and the beautiful redhead were hiding behind a bench, watching the distinguished leader walk into a small shop.

"Jeepers, I wonder why Mayor Corey is walking inside that particular shop?" Daphne asked.

"Good question Daphne, there's only one way to find out: and that's to sneak up to the window and see just why the mayor's in that shop" Fred replied.

With that the young woman and young man walked up to the window slowly, carefully and quietly, so they wouldn't be heard by the mayor of the small town; luckily having followed so many people during the gang's mysteries over the years, Fred and Daphne were somewhat experts in surveillance, so they managed to get up to the window rather easily, which enabled them to watch the female owner of the small shop hand something over to the leader of the small town.

"Jeepers, I wonder what that woman gave the mayor?" Daphne questioned.

"I don't know Daphne, but it looked to me like it was something that's used in electronics, hmm…" Fred replied.

"Hmm…? Whenever you say that Freddie, you think something's up, so what do you think is going on?" Daphne inquired.

"You know me all too well Daphne, yes I do think something's going on; like that item the mayor received, if I didn't know any better, I would say that witch's ghost could some kind of figure or something used in animatronics" Fred responded.

"Animatronics? Are you sure Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Possibly, or it might be something used in robotics, either one makes sense" Fred replied.

"Robotics? Fred, do you really think that ghost is a sophisticated robot?" Daphne asked.

"Sure, once you've eliminated the possible, only the impossible is left" Fred replied.

"True, but something tells me that witch's ghost isn't a mere robot or animatronic figure, I think it's at least someone in a costume" Daphne remarked.

"It's a possibility Daphne, question is: who's dressed up in the costume and how is he or she pulling off their theatrics?" Fred asked.

"Well, there's only one way to find out" Daphne replied.

"Right, and that's to keep following the mayor" Fred remarked.

However, Fred and Daphne were apparently speaking somewhat loudly as Mayor Corey apparently heard something and looked out the window; as the leader of the small town looked out the window, the young man and young woman quickly ducked down out of sight of the distinguished looking man, hoping to avoid him seeing the pair, which would probably make him realize just what the two of them were up to.

"Jeepers, that mayor must have super hearing, how else would he be able to hear what's going on?" Daphne asked.

"I don't know Daphne, but we've got to stay out of sight to avoid the mayor seeing us" Fred replied.

"How are we going to do that?" Daphne inquired.

"I'm no really sure yet, but I'll think of something" Fred replied.

"Well you better think of something fast, because the mayor's getting ready to leave that small shop right now" Daphne remarked.

"Uh oh; hmm… wait, I've got an idea, come on Daphne, let's walk over to that bench over there" Fred replied, pointing at a nearby bench.

"Why Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Because it's a part of my plan, now come on and hurry" Fred replied; with that the red head and the blond young adult quickly rushed over to the park bench and sat down, a few moments later the two of them began hugging each other and kissed each other a couple of times; Daphne was a little confused by this, but considering she was crazy about one Fred Jones, she didn't mind it too much.

The pair of sleuths were hoping that their plan was going to work, especially when the mayor walked out of the small shop and gazed over at the loving couple on the park bench; when the distinguished leader of the small town took a good look at the pair, he smiled and remarked to himself about young love and how nice it was to see a young couple that seemed to be successful in their relationship.

Mayor Corey then passed the park bench and Fred and Daphne before he continued to walk down the streets; the blond young adult and the red head then stood up from the bench and began following the leader of the municipality once again, this time they followed him to what looked to be a bed and breakfast, at least that's what the sign said in the front yard of the building.

After walking up to the door of the bed and breakfast, the mayor spoke with an elderly brown haired woman on matters of most likely some importance to the town, of course the pair of sleuths couldn't hear what was going on, as they were standing behind a hedge which was only about a few hundred feet away; figuring that he was possibly being watched, the mayor of the town looked over at the hedge where Fred and Daphne were hiding, but didn't see anything or anyone, the mayor then handed something to the woman and a few moments later bid what looked to be the owner of the business goodbye.

As Fred and Daphne watched the mayor, they wondered just what he was up to and why he was walking all over the town, talking to the various merchants and giving them various items, which seemed to just be ordinary objects like ladders, and other items, but when put together, could fit into whatever the mystery of Oak Haven really was.

Meanwhile, Velma and Ben were continuing to investigate the old barn when they found something rather unusual inside it; the bespectacled member of Mystery Inc. was shining her flashlight throughout the barn, until the light came to rest on what looked to be a vehicle, luckily for Ben, Velma happened to recognize the vehicle almost immediately and looked at it with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Hmm… this is a Cherry Picker Truck" Velma explained.

"Cherry Picker? What would something like that be doing here?" Ben asked.

"Good question, but I have a feeling it might have something to do with this mystery" Velma replied.

Back on the streets of Oak Haven, Fred and Daphne were continuing to follow Mayor Corey, which is what they were doing until he walked inside a large warehouse, which confused the two of them quite a bit; after all, what would a mayor be doing in a warehouse anyway? The red head and the blond young adult weren't quite sure of this yet, but they knew that something was going on in the small Massachusetts town and that the mayor was in on whatever was happening.

As Fred and Daphne investigated the warehouse, the two of them felt a strange presence somewhere inside the building, and soon enough the pair saw a strange green glow lighting up the walls as well as every square inch of the building; finally a few moments after the glow first made itself known in the building, it became brighter and brighter until right before Fred and Daphne's eyes, floating in the air was the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft.

"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed in horror.

"Wow" Fred added, somewhat dumbstruck at the appearance of the specter; however, they wouldn't have long to contemplate this, because just like any ghost, she was about ready to scare the living daylights out of the pair, or to scare them out of Oak Haven for good as the case would be.

"A-Ha! What do we have here? A couple of mortals for me to play with?" the ghost cackled as she floated down towards Fred and Daphne; the two young adults attempted to figure out what to do next in order to avoid the witch, although they really didn't need to do that, because as soon as the ghost got within ten feet of them, they hightailed it out of the warehouse and back down the streets of Oak Haven.

While they were running, they just so happened to pass the Mayor, as well as Velma and Ben who had left the barn by this point and were getting ready to meet up with the rest of the gang to discuss what each of them had found during their respective investigations; in addition, Shaggy and Scooby had gotten tired of waiting for Thorn, so they decided to walk back down the streets, and saw Fred and Daphne, who looked to be dog tired as they rejoined their friends, which the rest of the gang noticed.

"Fred, Daphne, what happened to you guys?" Velma asked, noticing that the two of them were exhausted.

"We-we saw the ghost" Fred replied, while trying to catch his breath.

"Jinkies, where?" Velma asked.

"Well, we were following Mayor Corey all over town, and I'll tell you something, he must be a pretty busy guy, because all the time that we saw him, he was picking stuff up and dropping stuff off at various businesses around town" Daphne explained.

"Hmm… this is very interesting, now where did the two of you see the ghost exactly?" Velma inquired.

"Come on, we'll show you" Fred replied, as he prepared to lead the group of sleuths towards the exact location where they had encountered the spectral witch; however, before they could do so, they had an unwelcome visitor who had nearly been flattened by Fred and Daphne, and who walked up to the six of them to ask them what was going on.

"What on Earth is going on here?" Mayor Corey inquired.

"We were just going to ask you the same question Mayor" Velma replied.

"Why, whatever do you mean young lady?" Mayor Corey asked, trying to sound innocent, which of course he was.

"We saw you in that warehouse, and we want to know what you were doing in there?" Velma asked, in a manner that sounded more like a detective or police officer then a young adult.

"Well I would like to know why two of your friends nearly ran me over?" Mayor Corey questioned.

"You mean you didn't see the witch's ghost?" Fred asked, looking over at the leader of the small town.

"No, I didn't; but if I did, it would be very wonderful for the economy here" Mayor Corey replied.

"Well, I tell you what, we were just going to go back to the warehouse and see if we can spot the ghost again, would you like to join us?" Velma inquired.

"Very well, I suppose I can go along" Mayor Corey replied.

With that Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Daphne, Ben and the mayor walked down the street once again, soon they all found themselves back in the warehouse that the blond haired young man and the wealthy red head had spotted the witch's ghost in and the seven of them began looking around once more, much to the chagrin of the mayor.

"So Fred, Daphne, you guys say you saw the ghost in here right?" Velma asked.

"We sure did, that creepy broom rider almost turned us into toads, she was really scary" Daphne remarked.

"I have to admit it, Daphne's right, that ghost was pretty frightening, although I have to admit, I don't think that ghost is very real and in that case I think someone is doing an awfully good job of trying to pull of a hoax" Fred remarked.

"A hoax? Why no my boy, you and your friends have seen the ghost, it's as real as you or I" Mayor Corey replied.

"I don't know Mayor, from all the clues we've found so far, I think my theory on this spirit has been blown to bits" Velma remarked.

"Your theory?" Mayor Corey asked.

"Yes, it involves a cherry picker, however in looking around that barn earlier I think that my theory is all wet; although I do have a plan to capture this ghost once and for all, and I'm going to need everyone's help" Velma explained; as she spoke Shaggy walked over and placed his arm around her, which caused Ben Ravencroft to raise his eyebrows a bit.

"Like I figured you had a plan Velma, I mean after all, you wouldn't be a great detective if you didn't have a plan for every mystery" Shaggy said, smiling at her.

"Exactly Shaggy and thanks" Velma replied.

"Well, if I can do anything to help you all just ask, and I'll do it" Mayor Corey remarked.

"Good, now here's my plan: first, Fred you…" Velma began explaining, with the rest of the gang, Mayor Corey and Ben Ravencroft all in a small huddle listening intently.

As usual when the bespectacled young woman spoke to the rest of her friends, a mystery was rather close to being solved, but this time the solving of one particular mystery would lead to the beginning of another mystery, however, the second mystery might not be as easy for the gang to solve, in fact if they didn't solve it, something could happen that would lead to a drastic change in the world as we know it.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Later that night, Shaggy and Scooby Doo stood on the same stage that the Hex Girls were to perform on for the ending concert of the Oak Haven Autumn Fest; the cowardly young sleuth/warlock tapped his foot, seemingly waiting for someone, which he of course was, to be exact he was waiting for a certain trio of female musicians to make an appearance; naturally the female musicians were a big part of Velma's plan to trap the witch's ghost once and for all, which on the surface might not make much sense, but to Velma it made perfect sense.

Shaggy Rogers grew impatient as he stood on the stage, waiting for everyone else to show up, in fact he thought for a few moments about using his magic to conjure up someone to talk to, but he decided against it, after all it would be very strange if someone saw Shaggy using magic to talk to someone, especially someone who wasn't there in the first place; the cowardly warlock then walked over to a keyboard set up on stage, and sat down, Shaggy then began trying to do his best impression of a rock and roll star as he began playing the keyboard, while Scooby tried his hand at playing a guitar which was nearby.

"Like this is pretty great, I feel like Mick Jagger, just without the English accent" the cowardly young adult said to himself as he began playing; however his joy was about to be interrupted as a certain red haired young woman walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me" the woman said, causing Shaggy to flinch a bit, although once he saw that it was Dusk, one of the members of the Hex Girls, he smiled and began speaking to her.

"Hi Dusk, what's up?" Shaggy asked.

"Um, well it would be nice if you and your dog didn't touch our instruments" Dusk replied, folding her arms as she spoke.

"Whoops, sorry about that Dusk" Shaggy said as he stood up and brushed the keyboard off, trying to be courteous as well.

"Thank you, I think" Dusk replied; as Scooby and Shaggy jumped down onto the ground, after moving over to the side, Velma and Ben walked up to the front of the stage, while the three musicians were quite curious as to why they were in the park in the first place.

"Okay, we're here, so why are we here? We have to rest for the concert tomorrow you know" Thorn inquired.

"Like that's what I wouldn't mind knowing too Velma, although I wish a certain person didn't have to be here" Shaggy replied, motioning over with his head towards Ben Ravencroft.

"Hey, I didn't want to be here either, I'm just following orders" Ben remarked.

"So Vel, like what kind of a plan are we talking about anyway?" Shaggy asked.

"Well Shaggy, it's simple, I realized that there's a chance that the witch's ghost might make an appearance again, and that if we somehow were able to draw her out into the open, we would be able to catch her" Velma replied.

"Like great idea Velma, so how are we going to catch the ghost Velma?" Shaggy asked.

"Glad you asked Shaggy, you and Scooby will try and lure the ghost out of hiding, while Thorn, Dusk and Luna play their instruments on stage and if I'm right, the ghost might go after the three of them as well" Velma replied.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing Velma" Thorn remarked.

"Don't worry Thorn, like we've been through hundreds of mysteries before and Velma always manages to come up with good plans" Shaggy replied.

"If you say so Shaggy" Thorn remarked.

"Believe me Thorn, I know so" Shaggy replied.

A few minutes after Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo discussed the young woman's plan with the Hex Girls and Ben Ravencroft, the cowardly warlock and the Great Dane headed out onto the streets of the small city in search of the witch's ghost; normally Shaggy and Scooby Doo would have to be bribed with Scooby Snacks to go after a ghost such as Sarah Ravencroft, but in this case they didn't need bribing mostly because of Shaggy's magical powers; with his magical abilities, he was more then confident that he could handle the ghost and was hoping that he would be able to use them against said spirit.

"Like that ghost better not show her face around here again, if she does I'll use my magic to ground her once and for all, right Scoob?" Shaggy asked, looking over at his canine companion.

"Rif rou ray ro Rhaggy" the Great Dane replied.

Shaggy and Scooby Doo then continued to search the city, as they walked down the streets of Oak Haven; usually the pair of cowardly investigators had pretty good luck in flushing out ghosts and monsters for the rest of the gang to capture, and they were hoping that in this case their luck would continue and the ghost would appear soon.

Suddenly as the two of them were walking through the park, Scooby Doo heard a strange noise, which sounded like rustling from the bushes; sensing that this could be the very ghost they had been looking for, Shaggy and Scooby slowly approached the bushes and soon enough, rising out of the foliage was the witch's ghost, in the flesh, or rather in the spirit.

"So you dare come back and face me again, eh?" the ghost asked with a sinister cackle.

"That's right, and we're going to stop you once and for all!" Shaggy replied, his voice raising as he spoke.

"You two? You really think you can defeat me, the spirit of a witch?" the ghost asked with another cackle.

"Like that's right; and for your information, you just happen to be dealing with a real life warlock, and I don't play favorites and I don't take it easy, not on ghosts and not on someone like you" Shaggy replied, speaking with a confident tone in his voice.

"Hmm… so you're really a warlock eh?" the ghost asked.

"Right, I don't suppose you want a taste of my power, just to show you I mean business?" Shaggy asked.

"Power? There's no way you would have enough power to stop the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft" the ghost replied with another trademark cackle.

"Well I'm sure going to try, now: what kind of spell would you like to see?" Shaggy asked.

"There's no spell in the world that can save you and that dog of yours" the ghost replied.

"We'll see about that, now if you'll just come down we can talk, witch to warlock, what do you say huh?" Shaggy inquired.

"Never, in fact why don't I give you a taste of my power: take this!" the ghost declared as she shot a fireball or two towards Shaggy and Scooby; the cowardly warlock was able to think fast on his feet in this situation and quickly surrounded the Great Dane and himself in a protective green glow, which resulted in the fireballs not coming even close to hitting either one of them.

"Grr! Meddling fools! You may be more powerful then me, but you'll never catch me!" the ghost said as she floated across the park.

"Come on Scooby, after her!" Shaggy urged as he and his canine companion followed the spectral sorceress back into the park; the cowardly young warlock then waited until it was safe and then whistled, which was the signal for the gang to spring their trap to capture the ghost; suddenly a large branch of one the park's trees flew towards the witch, knocking her into a soccer goal, sans net, in short she was confined.

"Good work Shaggy and Scooby, you did it!" Velma said as she walked over to her cowardly boyfriend/warlock and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Like thanks Velma, Scoob and I were more then happy to help" Shaggy replied.

"Reah" Scooby added.

"Now I think it's time to see who this so called ghost really is" Fred said as he and Daphne joined Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Ben Ravencroft; the blond young adult reached for the ghost's green mask and pulled it off, however he received one heck of a surprise when he saw who was wearing the ghost costume.

"It's Mr. McKnight!" Daphne declared.

"The pharmacy owner and T-shirt seller?" Shaggy asked.

"The very same Shaggy" Velma replied; at that moment, Thorn, Dusk and Luna walked over to where the gang and Ben were standing, however as Thorn surveyed the scene she gasped and walked over to Mr. McKnight; although the gang didn't know it yet, they were about to receive the first of many shocking surprises that they would encounter before they left Oak Haven.

"Daddy?" Thorn asked, looking over at Mr. McKnight with a surprised look on her face.

"Daddy?" Fred wondered.

"Hello Sally" Mr. McKnight said, albeit a bit sheepishly as he stood up in the witch's ghost outfit.

"Your dad is the ghost? Heavy" Dusk remarked.

"Your name is Sally?" Fred inquired.

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do; Sally's my given name, I just use the name Thorn on stage, it's a rock star thing" Thorn chuckled.

"Go figure" Daphne commented.

"Wait, like one thing still doesn't add up; if you aren't the witch's ghost Thorn, then why did you act like a witch when Scooby and I saw you?" Shaggy asked.

"Oh, you mean that ritual that I was doing and that the three of us were talking about right Shaggy?" Thorn inquired.

"Right, like what was that anyway?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, it was basically just peppermint and cloves, like we mentioned before; what you saw was me preparing a special herbal remedy, to sooth my vocal cords" Thorn replied.

"Ah, like that's pretty cool" Shaggy remarked.

"It sure is Shaggy, in fact all three of us use it, it's awesome; heck, with the stuff that we sing on a regular basis, if we didn't have Thorn's herbal remedies we would be lost" Dusk replied.

"I'll say" Luna added.

"Like man do I feel silly; when Scoob and I were following you Thorn, and when we looked in that shed, we really thought you were a witch, and that the three of you were witches" Shaggy replied.

"That's understandable Shaggy, I mean when people see us they think we are witches; but in reality we aren't, we're just musicians, we only play act that stuff for the band" Thorn explained.

"So, what about those fangs that Scooby and I saw?" Shaggy asked.

"Simple, they're phony; my dad's a dentist, he outfitted the band" Dusk commented as she removed the false fangs from her mouth.

"Like now that's impressive," Shaggy remarked.

"Sure is, by the way Thorn, judging by what Shaggy and Scooby have said, you seem to be really good at making herbal medicines and remedies, how come?" Velma inquired.

"Well, to tell you guys the truth, I'm part wiccan on my mother's side; it's rather unusual, but people tend to accept it" Thorn replied.

"Like we sure accept it, that's for sure" Shaggy remarked; however, the gang's conversation with the Hex Girls was about to be interrupted as a familiar looking brown haired man began walking up towards the gang, not to mention he looked quite unhappy as he approached the team of sleuths.

"What's going on here? What is all this?" Mayor Corey asked, however when he spotted Mr. McKnight, he really looked upset as he looked over at the town pharmacist/T-Shirt salesman.

"McKnight? Is that you?" the mayor inquired.

"Sorry about that mayor" Mr. McKnight replied.

"Like there's something about this that just doesn't add up, how come Mr. McKnight is dressed up as a witch? What reason would he have to do so?" Shaggy asked.

"Well Shaggy, for starters, Mr. McKnight isn't the only person involved here, isn't that right Jack?" Velma said, projecting her voice towards the trees; suddenly, the friendly owner of the diner Shaggy and Scooby ate at stepped out of the shadows, with Velma's flashlight trained on him all the while.

"Like I knew it, I figured there was a reason why he left the diner for a few minutes; running errands my foot" Shaggy replied.

"Exactly Shaggy; and if I had to guess, he was the one who was operating that Cherry Picker Truck, when Ben and I investigated the barn, we found that the truck's engine was still warm, which meant that someone had been using the truck recently, in this case Jack" Velma commented.

"Like I get it; and he's a pretty heavy guy which means he was strong enough to lift Mr. McKnight through the air, which made it seem like he was flying through the skies of Oak Haven" Shaggy remarked.

"Right Shaggy, Jack used wires to propel Mr. McKnight's flight, and I have to admit it was very convincing; but Jack and Mr. McKnight weren't the only two people involved here, this hoax needed more people to make it work and make it convincing, which means that everyone was involved" Velma said, projecting her voice into the trees again, only this time a large number of the citizens of Oak Haven came out of the shadows, which surprised the gang's author friend to no end.

"Everyone?" Ben asked.

"Sure, for a hoax like this, the whole town had to be in on it; how else would Oak Haven be able to attract so many tourists" Velma replied.

"Well, I for one am shocked at this development" Mayor Corey remarked, clearly upset about what was occurring.

"You can drop the charade now mayor, because you're the one who made me suspicious in the first place" Velma replied, sounding quite serious as she spoke.

"Why, whatever do you mean my dear?" Mayor Corey asked.

"Yes I'm quite interested to hear this as well" Ben replied as he folded his arms, looking quite unhappy with the citizens of Oak Haven.

"Well Ben, you see it never meant to turn into this; I remembered you once saying to me that the supernatural always attracted tourists, and I thought…" Mayor Corey commented.

"You thought you would use Sarah's ghost? Well I for one am disgusted by this, I am shocked, stunned and saddened that you all would use the name of Sarah Ravencroft, one of my ancestors to line your pockets; you should all be ashamed for dragging her name through the mud and using my family's history to make money for the town" Ben replied, looking quite unhappy with the citizens and the mayor.

It was going to take a while for Ben Ravencroft to forgive the populace of the New England town for what they had done and for using Sarah Ravencroft to make money for the town of Oak Haven; a little while later, back at Ben Ravencroft's house, Scooby Doo and the gang, the famous author and the Hex Girls were speaking about the current mystery, or rather the solution of it, in addition they were discussing the famous author's relative and what he would say to her about her life.

"So that's Sarah Mr. Ravencroft?" Thorn asked, admiring a large portrait hanging above the fireplace inside the author's home.

"Correct, and she was indeed a real wiccan" Ben replied.

"Wow, very cool" Thorn remarked.

"Thank you Thorn, it's nice of you to say that about her; I'm always happy to hear younger people practicing the Wiccan arts" Ben replied.

"You're welcome Mr. Ravencroft" Thorn said with a smile; it was at that moment that the author's door opened and in walked Mayor Corey and Mr. McKnight, who had rather sorrowful looks on their faces, which Ben noticed.

"Oh hello Mayor Corey, Mr. McKnight, what's up?" Ben asked.

"Well Ben, we're awfully sorry about using Sarah to make money; but we had a very good reason to" Mr. McKnight said.

"Yes, you see we used Sarah Ravencroft's ghost haunting the town to attract tourists, nothing more nothing less; our town was on the verge of dying out because of lack of tourists, so we had to do something to attract people here" Mayor Corey replied.

"Right, and it was only natural for us to use Sarah's ghost because, well… we found her grave marker" Mr. McKnight added.

"Her grave marker? When? How?" Ben asked, his eyes opening wide and sounding quite curious as to what the two of them meant.

"When we were excavating the area for construction of the Puritan village, we wasn't sure what it was at first, but as soon as we recognized the shape of it and the name on the marker, we knew it was Sarah's grave" Mr. McKnight replied.

"Did you find anything else other then her grave?" Ben asked.

"Like what?" Mr. McKnight inquired.

"Like a book perhaps?" Ben inquired.

"Sorry Ben, we didn't find a book, or anything else besides her grave marker" Mayor Corey replied.

"Are you sure?" Ben asked.

"We're sure Ben, trust us; her grave could be anywhere in town, we just don't know where it is or where it might be" Mr. McKnight replied.

"Hmm…" Velma said to herself, looking over at the painting that hung above Ben Ravencroft's fireplace, until she examined the artwork more carefully; the young woman then noticed that Sarah was carrying a book of some kind in the portrait, knowing Velma and the look that she had on her face, which Shaggy noticed, he figured she had some kind of plan in mind for figuring out the final pieces to the mystery, which she then shared with her boyfriend and his cowardly canine companion.

"Shaggy, I think I have an idea that might end this mystery, but I need you and Scooby's help again" Velma explained.

"Like sure Velma, do you need to tap my area of expertise perhaps?" Shaggy asked, in a bit of a whispered tone, so Ben couldn't her him, while he looked over at her.

"I know what you mean Shaggy, and I don't believe I need to this time around, maybe later" Velma replied as Ben looked and both of them with a somewhat confused expression on his face.

"OK Velma, like what's your plan to solve this mystery?" Shaggy inquired.

"Well, first off do you still have that buckle that you and Scooby found earlier?" Velma asked.

"Like I think so" Shaggy replied, while rummaging through his pants pockets until finding the small square metal object that he had found earlier in the evening, with the help of his magic of course.

"Here Velma, but like I don't understand what you need with a shoe buckle" Shaggy said as he handed the buckle over to Velma who meticulously inspected it, as she usually did when she found a clue.

"Hmm… you know Shaggy, I don't think this is a shoe buckle that you and Scooby found" the young woman responded.

"Like it's not?" Shaggy asked.

"Nope, but I do think if we went back to the park and investigated some more, we might find Ben's ancestor's diary and the solution to this mystery" Velma replied.

"Terrific, what are we waiting for? Let's get going" Ben responded, rather eagerly; with that the gang, along with the Hex Girls, Mayor Corey and Ben headed back towards the park, once they reached the park, they began looking around for any sign of a clue as to where the diary might be.

"Okay Velma, like now that we're here what are we looking for?" Shaggy asked.

"Simple, I noticed in the painting that Ben has, that Sarah is standing in front of a large Oak tree; I also noticed that she was holding the diary in her hands, and that the buckle that you and Scooby found looked to be the same buckle that's on the diary" Velma replied.

"Like I get it, we just have to look in the same place that we found the buckle and we might find the diary" Shaggy responded.

"Right" Velma remarked, looking over at Shaggy.

"But wait a minute, how do you know that tree is still in the park? that painting was done more than 250 years ago, so it's highly doubtful that the tree is still standing, much less in the same place it was then" Mayor Corey replied with a question of his own.

"True, but we still have to look anyway; now Scooby, you're without a doubt the best digger of the group, so all you have to do is dig in the place nearest to where the tree was and there's a good chance we'll find the diary, okay?" Velma asked, looking over at the Great Dane.

"Right Relma" Scooby replied; with that the Great Dane ran over to the exact spot that he had found the buckle earlier in the evening and began digging like he had never dug before; soon, he found that he had hit something while he dug with one of his paws and alerted his friends to this development while his head was still inside the hole.

"Ri round a rox" the canine sleuth remarked.

"You found rocks?" Ben asked curiously.

Scooby didn't reply to that statement, instead he retrieved a large and ancient looking wooden box from the hole he dug in the ground; once the canine detective had pulled the box out of the hole, he dragged it towards the gang, he let the gang take a look at it, which included Ben Ravencroft, who knew exactly what box was and what was inside it.

"I can't believe it, I finally found the chest, thanks to all of you; I can't wait to open it" the author commented, speaking like he was a child on Christmas morning; the author then bent down towards the ground and opened the chest, but what he found wasn't the diary of Sarah Ravencroft, well actually what he found did belong to Sarah, but it wasn't quite what the group of detectives was expecting, in fact it was much more sinister.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Finally after all these years of searching, I finally have found what I have been searching for and now I can use it to clear my family name once and for all" Ben Ravencroft commented with a somewhat devious look on his face, which the gang noticed.

The famous author had opened up a chest which had been buried beneath the ground inside a park in Oak Haven, Massachusetts; after he opened said chest, Ben and the rest of the gang saw that there was a book inside the chest, naturally Scooby Doo and company thought the book was indeed Sarah's diary, but Ben Ravencroft knew that it was something much more then just a mere diary.

"Call me crazy, but that seems much more sinister then a diary" Daphne remarked as she gazed at the front cover of the volume, which displayed an almost demonic picture of something that looked a creature not of this world.

"That's because it's not a diary" Ben replied, with a sinister smile on his face.

"Like it's not a diary? If that's not what it is, then what is it?" Shaggy asked.

"Why Norville, I'm surprised you don't know what it is, considering your, shall we say background" Ben replied, chuckling evilly as he spoke.

"Just what are you talking about Mr. Ravencroft?" Shaggy asked.

"Oh, you don't have to call me Mr. Ravencroft Norville, just call me Ben, since I know your real first name" Ben replied.

"Why you… I never tell anyone my first name, except for the gang that is, how did you know it?" Shaggy asked as he felt his right hand beginning to form into an angry looking fist.

"Very simple Mr. Rogers, you see I happen to be a bit of a mind reader, among other things; and I know much more about you five then most people know, for instance Shaggy, you happen to have special abilities shall we say; of course because I am a nice person, I will not mention what they are in front of everyone" Ben replied.

"That's very giving of you Mr. Ravencroft, I think; so, why would you ask if I know what that book is?" Shaggy asked.

"Because dear boy, this book that I currently hold in my hands, is not a mere diary, you see it is in fact a spell book" Ben replied, holding it up for the gang to see before he began speaking once more.

"A spell book? I figured as much, I should have recognized it when I saw the cover" Shaggy remarked.

"A spell book? Jinkies" Velma replied.

"Yes, I've been searching for this spell book and this chest for ages, to avenge the name of Ravencroft once and for all; for now that I am in possession of this spell book, I shall unleash my true powers and bring back Sarah Ravencroft" Ben explained, laughing sinisterly once again.

"What are you talking about Ravencroft? I thought Sarah was a Wiccan" Shaggy inquired, now calling the author by his last name, which meant that he was quite unhappy with the author.

"Wrong Mr. Rogers, Sarah was indeed an evil witch and now that I have the found her spell book I shall use my abilities to rule the land as Sarah should have done several hundred years ago, that is if the Wiccans hadn't imprisoned her in her own spell book" Ben replied.

"Like I don't understand, how is a spell book going to help you?" Shaggy asked.

"Because Mr. Rogers, you see the Ravencroft family blood runs through my veins, including Sarah's, so because I am Sarah's descendent in modern times, I guess you can call me a warlock" Ben explained, to a shocked Mystery Inc., however one member of the group wasn't shocked, in fact this particular member of the team was quite angry with him, because of his less that truthful behavior.

"I knew it! I knew there was something not quite right about him; a horror writer, yeah right and I'm the King of England" Shaggy remarked as he clenched his right hand in anger, while looking directly at the author turned warlock across from the gang.

The cowardly teen warlock's face had a look of complete contempt and resentment on it as Velma put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him down and also hoping that he wouldn't do anything that he would regret later; although as Velma looked at Shaggy's face, it was clear that if he was going to do anything, he might not come out of it alive, in addition the bespectacled teen noticed that Shaggy's eyes had a fiery and determined look in them, something that the cowardly teen rarely had, although since he had become a warlock, it seemed that he had become a different person, which both pleased and surprised Velma.

The bespectacled young woman was pleased that Shaggy was able to defend himself and able to keep from running from ghosts and monsters, in short she was happy that he was able to be brave without a Scooby Snack; however, Velma was surprised because it seemed that having magical powers had changed Shaggy, in fact it seemed that he was the opposite of what his personality was before; before he became a warlock Shaggy was timid, somewhat cowardly, always hungry, although it short he was always friendly, particularly when Velma was around, but since he inherited his magical abilities it seemed like he had a vastly different personality, now he was more determined, more eager and ready to use his powers at a moment's notice to defeat a villain, without thinking of the possible consequences if something happened to him or if his powers didn't work.

In short Shaggy seemed more reckless and irresponsible than he was before, which frightened Velma to no end, specifically the bespectacled detective ran through her mind every single scenario in which he was injured, clinging to life with serious injuries or worse; it was now that the cowardly sleuth's female companion decided to once again attempt to talk some sense into him and to stop him from single handedly taking on Ben Ravencroft.

"Shaggy, I don't think this is neither the time nor the place to discuss this; besides, you're nowhere near experienced enough with magic to defeat him" Velma replied.

"She's right Shaggy, besides I am descended from a superior breed and frankly speaking I am a much more powerful Warlock than you Norville" Ben commented.

"How do you know I'm a warlock and how did you know my real name Ravencroft?" Shaggy replied.

"Simple you inherited your powers from your grandparents and you were trained by them, also as I said before I have followed your careers for some time now and you might say that's how I was able to meet all of you; one day, I read an article about you and I figured if I met you five, I could somehow lure you all here to help me find the spell book" Ben explained.

"Like that's what you meant when you said I could probably recognize what the book really was, it's because you knew I was a warlock and that I might be a threat to you in your little plans" Shaggy replied, clenching his teeth as he spoke.

"In a way Shaggy, you're sort of right" Ben remarked.

"Like now I get it, you probably orchestrated the whole mummy thing at the museum too" Shaggy realized.

"Yes I did and I paid off the archaeologists and the security guards as well, just so I could meet all of you" Ben replied.

"But why do all of this just to get us to find the book for you?" Daphne asked.

"I know why, if we knew what that book really was we never would have help him" Velma commented.

"Correct Velma, and now that I have the book I can summon the spirit of Sarah Ravencroft, who perished here over two hundred years ago" Ben remarked, while laughing evilly.

"Oh really Ravencroft? Well, I would like to see you try and defeat me, my powers are far more advanced then yours are, you don't stand a chance against me" Shaggy replied as he defiantly stood in Ben's presence, knowing that he was risking life and limb to face off against the sinister warlock.

"Well Norville, if your powers are more advanced then mine are let's see you try and take the book from me" Ben remarked, looking straight into the eyes of Shaggy Rogers and possibly staring into his soul.

"Ravencroft, first of all, I may be a warlock, but I am nothing like you; you think you can use magic to mess with people's free will and lives, you think you are all powerful, but you're not, real magic is not only derived from a person's background, but also from a person's personality as well, your personality Ravencroft is as evil as and as black as the night, my personality on the other hand, well I am a pure warlock, one who uses his magic for good and to help people, in short my magic is much more powerful then yours will ever be!" Shaggy declared, his hands beginning to glow green with the power that dwelled within him, which Ben Ravencroft seemed to notice.

"Ooh, I'm so scared, cowardly and hungry Shaggy Rogers is going to stop me, ooh, boy am I scared!" Ben replied, albeit sarcastically.

"Ravencroft, I'm warning you, if you don't give me that book I'm going to take it from you!" Shaggy said, his hands glowing brighter and brighter as he spoke.

"I already told you Rogers, I will never give up this book, I have worked too hard to lose it now!" Ben replied, looking like he was ready to use his magic, just as Shaggy was looking like he was ready to use his powers.

"Very well, you asked for it!" Shaggy said as he brought his hands up and aimed them directly at Ben.

"You wouldn't, you don't have the nerve to use your powers against me, you're too soft to be a warlock" Ben replied, just standing and smiling evilly.

"Oh really? Well then, let's just see what you say after I blast you into next month!" Shaggy remarked; he was ready to use the full force of his powers to defeat Ben Ravencroft, however before he could, Velma who had a hand on his shoulder, tapped on his shoulder and said something to the cowardly warlock, something that changed his point of view forever.

"Shaggy, I just want you to know, whatever you have to do to defeat Ben, you do it, don't hold back because I'm a fan of his, in fact I wish I had never read any of his novels and if I have any at home, when I get back I'm going to burn them" Velma replied.

"Velma, like are you sure, do you really mean that?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes, I wish I had never ever met him or heard of him!" Velma replied with a serious look on her face, although Ben Ravencroft could hear everything they were saying and decided to butt in.

"What's the matter Velma? I thought you liked my books, after all you said you were such a big fan of them" Ben responded, looking over at Velma.

"That was before you used us to find that spell book; when we thought it was a diary, I had no problem liking you and your novels, you were one of my idols Ben, but now I see you're just another power hungry villain, who will get his just reward in the end" Velma replied.

"Well Velma, this is certainly a surprise, but if you really feel like that then the only thing I can do is to offer you a partnership, if you join up with me, I will give you magic as well, you would be one of the most powerful witches in the world and one of the smartest as well" Ben remarked, looking over at Velma and smiling evilly.

"Not a chance Ben, Shaggy is the only warlock I'll ever love and that's the truth" Velma replied as she put an arm around Shaggy, which made Ben even angrier.

"So, you're choosing that, that young fool over me! Me, a powerful warlock and world famous author, me who could make you rich and powerful beyond your wildest dreams!" Ben said irately.

"Let's put it this way Ben, yes!" Velma replied.

"Very well, then I shall have to destroy the five of you, starting with you Shaggy Rogers!" Ben said, aiming his hands at the green shirt clad young sorcerer; however in his mind, Shaggy had a plan already formed and was ready to enact it, just as soon as Ben said the magic words, no pun intended.

The black haired author/warlock's arms were pointed directly at Shaggy, the cowardly warlock was ready for whatever Ben could throw at him and was quite confident as he smiled and waited for the sorcerer to use his abilities; finally the black haired warlock laughed menacingly and pointed his hands directly at Shaggy, who just stood there still as a statue.

"Shaggy" Velma said, refusing to leave the teen warlock's side; she hung onto his shoulder like an affectionate puppy dog, but when he motioned for Velma to move aside with his head, she did so, which was a good thing, because right after the gang were safely away from Ben and Shaggy, a large plume of smoke surrounded the cowardly young adult, which caused Ben to produce a devilish smile on his face.

"Well, that's the end of Shaggy Rogers, the warlock" Ben said, laughing evilly; as she watched the scene from afar, Velma's face began to transform into an expression of sadness and grimness, could Shaggy have actually perished under the powers of Ben Ravencroft, or could he have survived? For Velma, the wait was unbearable as she continued to watch the scene unfold, however she didn't wait to find out what happened, instead she immediately began calling him every name in the book.

"Ben how could you? Shaggy wasn't threatening you, you had no right to destroy him!" Velma declared angrily.

"Oh yes I did Velma, and unless you and your friends want the same thing, I would suggest you leave immediately" Ben replied, still with a sinister grin on his face.

"Ben Ravencroft, you, you, you're the devil incarnate!" Velma declared, still upset with the author.

"Believe me Velma, the devil is nowhere near as evil as I am" Ben replied; however, the sinister warlock and author was about to get the surprise of his life, in addition to Scooby Doo and company, as a certain member of their team was about to make a grand reappearance, when everyone else thought this person was gone forever.

"Like you're right Ravencroft, you're worse then the devil could ever be!" a familiar male voice said.

"No, it can't be!" Ben declared, with a look of disbelief on his face; suddenly the plume of smoke that had appeared when Ben aimed his magic for Shaggy, vanished and standing right next to Ben Ravencroft, was one Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, unharmed and seemingly unaffected by Ben's evil magic.

"Shaggy, you're okay!" Velma said, running over to hug the young man like no one had ever hugged him before.

"Like sure I am Velma, I'm a warlock after all and a pretty good one" Shaggy replied.

"But how on Earth did you escape Ben's wrath Shaggy? I mean I saw the smoke, I thought you had disappeared" Velma commented.

"Nope, like right before Ben here tried to make me vanish, I enacted a protection spell that made it seem like I vanished in a plume of smoke, but in reality I was right next to him all the time, waiting to make my move" Shaggy replied as Velma squeezed him tightly.

"That was a great idea Shaggy, I guess you're really getting a hang of this magic stuff huh?" Velma asked as she held his arm.

"Yes Norville, I would say you are getting a hang of being a warlock as well; I misjudged you Rogers, I thought you were an easy target, after all, I thought you weren't as powerful as I am, but now I see that I was wrong, you are a tough opponent and a worthy adversary" Ben replied.

"Thank you Ravencroft, I think; now, that you know I'm still around, what are you going to do to me?" Shaggy asked.

"I don't know yet Rogers, but whatever it is it will be rather unpleasant" Ben replied.

"Oh? You don't know what your plan is for me yet? Too bad, because I know exactly what I'm going to do with you, and that's to grab that spell book!" Shaggy remarked as he aimed a small amount of magic at Ben's hands, causing the spell book to vanish from his hands and reappear in Shaggy's hands.

"Grr! You blasted meddling young warlock, give me the book before I send you and your associates back to the Colonial ages!" Ben said, trying to procure the volume from the young sorcerer the only way he knew how, by standing in front of the young adult and grabbing for the book as much as possible, which he was not succeeding in.

"Like nice try Ravencroft, maybe your mother should have taught you that it's not nice to grab from people" Shaggy said as he began running away from the warlock, while Velma, Fred, Daphne and Scooby joined him.

"Oh no you don't! Come back here Rogers, you're not going to get away that easy!" Ben declared as he aimed his hand towards a nearby tree; the tree began breaking under the weight of the evil warlock's magic, but luckily for Shaggy and the rest of the group, the teen warlock's power was able to protect the gang as they rested for a few moments.

"Phew, like that was close, one moment more and Ben Ravencroft would have given us each a major facelift" Shaggy remarked, wiping his brow as he spoke.

"Jinkies, I'll say; it was pretty close, I'm glad we escaped Ben though" Velma commented.

"Yeah, he's gone crazy, he really thinks he's a warlock" Daphne replied.

"Like I hate to say it gang, but he is a warlock; from what I know about the supernatural from my time studying all the material my grandparents left me, it looked to me like Ben received some kind of powers when he found the book, and now he's using them on us, or trying to" Shaggy remarked.

"I hate to admit it, but Shaggy you're right; somehow we have to get that book back before Ben tries something crazy like summoning the actual spirit of Sarah Ravencroft" Fred replied.

"But how are we going to do that? Mr. Ravencroft has all the power from that book, he's a sorcerer, we can't stop him, or can we?" Daphne asked, looking over at Fred.

"Actually we can Daphne, and I know a way we can stop him" Fred replied.

"How Fred?" Daphne asked.

"By using our own sorcerer and warlock," Fred replied, looking over at Shaggy.

"Like I knew you were going to say that Fred, but don't worry, I'm more then ready to take on Ben once again" Shaggy remarked, cracking his knuckles as he spoke.

"Shaggy?" Velma asked.

"Yes Velma?" the young man responded as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What kind of spells are you going to use to stop Ben?" Velma inquired.

"Like that is a surprise Vel, but trust me, I have some doozies cooked up for one Ben Ravencroft" Shaggy replied.

"Good, maybe if you use your good magic, Ben will see the error of his ways and stop trying to use his evil magic to bring back Sarah Ravencroft" Velma remarked.

"Like I hope so Velma, but just in case it doesn't…" Shaggy replied.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" Velma remarked.

"Right, come on gang" Fred declared; with that, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo began walking back towards where Ben was, however the group of sleuths suddenly remembered one important thing as they walked.

"Fred?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes Shaggy?" Fred replied.

"Like if Ben's a warlock, then were the mayor and Mr. McKnight in on this too?" Shaggy inquired.

"Probably not, I'm certain that the mayor and Mr. McKnight were just involved with the fake ghost, not this" Fred replied.

However, the aforementioned mayor and the pharmacy owner were in more danger then anyone, even the gang knew, even though they weren't involved with Ben's scheme; for as the gang continued to walk towards the area where they left the mayor and the T-Shirt Salesman/Pharmacy Owner, they heard a rather unsettling and very familiar noise.

"Help!" the mayor declared, which made the gang quicken their pace greatly.

"You can't do this to us!" Mr. McKnight added; within a few moments the gang had reached the area where Ben was, and had arrived just in time to see him magically place the mayor and Mr. McKnight in a set of stalks and lock them in place.

"Zoinks! Like we're too late, Ravencroft's trapped them" Shaggy declared, which caused Ben to turn around and see the gang standing there watching him.

"Well, well, if it isn't my younger competitor and his friends, what do you want?" Ben inquired.

"Like first of all you can release Mr. McKnight and the mayor from their confinement, now!" Shaggy replied with anger in his voice, while his hands began glowing green, which the author noticed.

"Ah, it looks like I've struck a nerve with you Norville, tired of me hogging the spotlight, wish you could be the only person in Velma's life, the only warlock I mean?" Ben asked.

"For your information Velma likes me a lot better then you Ravencroft, you're really giving warlocks a bad name; and trapping the mayor and Thorn's dad is just making things worse, now release them and maybe I'll let you off easy Ravencroft" Shaggy replied.

"Release them? Why would I ever release them? If you want the two of them released, why don't you do it yourself? You're powerful enough aren't you?" Ben asked, while Thorn had rushed over to where her father was locked up and tried to unlock the stalks herself.

"How deeply moving, I would love to see this reunion unfold more but I think I would rather have three more prisoners, what do you think Norville?" Ben said as he looked over at Thorn and then at Shaggy.

"Don't you dare! What have the Hex Girls ever done to you?" Shaggy asked.

"Nothing, but I'm still going to keep them as my prisoners" Ben replied; the author then raised his hand and aimed it at a nearby roll of yarn, he then magically brought it towards the Hex Girls and tied them up to a post with the yarn, which made Shaggy even angrier.

"Thorn, Dusk, Luna! You creature! Trapping three innocent young women just for fun, that's low Ravencroft, even for someone like you!" Shaggy said as he aimed his hand at Ben once again.

"Maybe, but you have to admit, I can sure spin a yarn" Ben replied as he began laughing evilly.

"If your puns are as evil as your magic, then I can't blame you for why Velma doesn't like you or your novels any more" Shaggy remarked.

"You know Norville, if you really want to prove something to me, then why don't you try and unlock the stalks to free the Mayor and McKnight, or to free the Hex Girls, what do you say?" Ben asked.

"I don't have to prove anything to you Ravencroft, but I'm going to try just the same" Shaggy said as he aimed his hand for the stalks and attempted to free the mayor and Mr. McKnight, which he failed to do, which meant that Ben was able to gloat at Shaggy's failure.

"What's the matter Rogers? Can't free them?" Ben asked, laughing as he spoke.

"What kind of spell did you use on them Ravencroft? Tell me now!" Shaggy replied as he aimed his hand at the author once again.

"Not the whole I want to blast the villain technique again; tell me Rogers, why do you continually do the same things over and over again, I thought you were a powerful warlock?" Ben asked, although he was clearly mocking Shaggy as he spoke.

"Because I am powerful, more powerful then you'll ever be Ben!" Shaggy replied angrily.

"Well then, let's see if you can free the Hex Girls then" Ben responded, almost challenging Shaggy to undo his magic spells.

"Fine, I will" Shaggy replied; the young warlock then aimed his hand at where the Hex Girls were tied up, but failed to free them as well, which left the door open for more gloating from Ben Ravencroft.

"So Norville, you can't free the mayor or Mr. McKnight or the Hex Girls; face it, you'll never be as powerful as I am, you'll never beat me, eventually you'll just have to realize the truth Shaggy, as a warlock you are truly, and completely: a washout!" Ben replied, laughing sinisterly.

Shaggy then hung his head for a few moments, he looked at the ground realizing that maybe Ben Ravencroft was right, maybe he couldn't stop him and maybe he wasn't that great a warlock as everyone, especially the other members of Mystery Inc. thought he was; regardless of that, one thing was for sure, before the night was over, Shaggy was going to prove to Ben Ravencroft that he was powerful and that he would defeat him once and for all.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Shaggy Rogers stood with his friends, Velma, Fred, Daphne and his Great Dane Scooby Doo in a park in the small town of Oak Haven, Massachusetts; together they had stumbled onto another mystery involving the ghost of an ancestor of a famous horror writer named Ben Ravencroft, who had invited the gang to come with him to New England to see the fall colors.

Soon the gang had managed to capture said ghost, but were more surprised to learn that not only was the ghost fake, but that a diary that belonged to Sarah Ravencroft was in fact a spell book, which Sarah used to attempt to destroy colonial Oak Haven and New England as well; once Ben found the spell book, he used it to trap the Hex Girls, three musicians that the gang had befriended in the town as well as the mayor of the town and a pharmacist/salesman who was also one of the girls fathers.

For you see, Ben Ravencroft is more then who he said he was, in reality he was more then an author, he was an ancestor of Sarah Ravencroft and as a result of finding the spell book, he became a warlock and began using his newfound evil powers to trap anyone who got in his way; however, thus far Shaggy Rogers, who was also a warlock and had been since he inherited the powers from his grandparents had managed to face down Ben and had done very well in his using magic against Ben.

Unfortunately, he had been unable to defeat Ben as of yet, nor free the Hex Girls, Mayor Corey or Mr. McKnight, which caused Ben to taunt the young warlock and say things that annoyed and angered Shaggy; being a member of the Rogers family and having grandparents who were quite powerful in terms of magic, Shaggy had learned to never give up or quit in the face of danger and after collecting his thoughts he faced Ben once more.

"Ravencroft!" Shaggy declared angrily as he stared at the author/warlock.

"Now what do you want, you amateur?" Ben asked, standing a few feet away from the young warlock and looking quite unhappy with Shaggy Rogers.

"Like what I want is for you to stop this craziness, and free your prisoners, not to mention forget about all this foolishness about bringing back Sarah Ravencroft" Shaggy replied.

"Rogers, you don't get it do you? I want to rule, I want to revive the spirit of my ancestor and together, the two of us will rule the world!" Ben declared as strange grey mists began developing in the sky above the gang, which Shaggy noticed.

"Just what are you up to now Ravencroft?" Shaggy asked.

"What I'm up to as you put it, is I'm tired of fooling around with you and your friends; what I've shown so far is only minor magic, I want to see what I can really do with my powers" Ben replied.

"Give it up Ravencroft, with me here you'll never win and you'll never bring the ghost back to life" Shaggy remarked.

"Shaggy, Shaggy, Shaggy, you don't get it do you? I can run circles around you, my magic is much more powerful then yours, I can cast spells that are far more powerful then yours and I can defeat you with one hand behind my back" Ben replied.

"Well, why don't we see what you can really do Ben, let's have a face off, right here and right now, young against old, you against me, man vs. man, what do you say?" Shaggy asked.

"Hmm… it's very tempting, but I don't think I want to waste my time against you" Ben replied.

"Why? Are you afraid that someone younger is better then you?" Shaggy asked.

"First of all, I'm not that old and second, I'm a warlock, I'm not afraid of anything!" Ben declared.

"All right, then why don't you face me, are you a coward?" Shaggy asked, thinking that he would never use that word, although it sounded better coming from his mouth and talking about someone else.

"I am not a coward at all, and just for that I will face you; and I'll raise the stakes a little as well, the winner gets the spell book, what do you say?" Ben inquired; as the warlock spoke, Velma placed a hand on Shaggy's shoulder once again whispering to him, trying to talk him out of his impending showdown with Ben.

"Shaggy are you crazy? He's more powerful then you by far, I know you're a great sorcerer, but you should think about this, if you lose he gets the spell book, then we'll have no chance at stopping him" Velma said, trying to reason with her boyfriend.

"Yes Shaggy, think about this, do you really want to tangle with me?" Ben asked.

"Well Velma, what do you think?" Shaggy asked, looking for advice from the young woman.

"Shaggy, I've known you long enough and been your girlfriend long enough to know that if you have a plan, you should go ahead and follow it, no matter what it is" Velma replied.

"So like does that mean I should face off against Ben?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes, and beat him for me" Velma replied, kissing him on the cheek before telling Fred, Daphne and Scooby they needed to walk with her and move away from Shaggy and Ben.

"Like don't worry Vel, I will" Shaggy said to himself, looking more determined then usual.

"All right Shaggy, time to face the music" Ben remarked, calling the young warlock over to where the author was standing; Shaggy heard what he said and quickly came over to where he was and stood only a few feet away from where he was standing.

The two warlocks, the elder one Ben Ravencroft, and the younger one Shaggy Rogers, faced each other, both with a look of determination on their respective faces; to Fred, Daphne, Velma and Scooby, who watched them from behind a nearby tree, it looked like an Old West showdown between two cowboys, only instead of revolvers, the two of them were using magic and both of them didn't want to leave the other standing.

"All right Ravencroft, I'm calling you out once and for all, time to face your worst nightmare!" Shaggy remarked as he watched Ben Ravencroft wiggle his fingers, preparing to use his magic against Shaggy once again.

"I'm ready Rogers, I just hope your pathetic little powers can handle my strong powers, after all we wouldn't want anything to happen to you now would we?" Ben asked, with a devilish grin on his face.

"I'm sure you would want something to happen to me, you fiend!" Shaggy replied.

"Well now, let's just see about that Mr. Tough guy, ready?" Ben asked.

"I'm ready Ravencroft" Shaggy replied flatly.

"Well then, why don't I start this little showdown" Ben said; the black haired author turned sorcerer leapt a few feet behind him and aimed his hands for Shaggy, suddenly a green glow came from the writer's hands right towards the young warlock, however right as the glow was about to hit him, he jumped out of the way, which meant that Ben's errant magic hit a nearby tree.

"Hey Ravencroft, maybe you should have worked on your aim!" Shaggy declared, looking back at Ben before he aimed his hand for the author and used his magic to send the author skidding across the grass of the park.

"Why you!" Ben replied, using his powers to send several pumpkins flying towards Shaggy, which he ducked rather easily.

"Pumpkins? Really Ravencroft is that the best you can do? Why don't I just zap up some whipped cream, that would help, if we were having pumpkin pie that is" Shaggy chuckled as found a place to hide next to the gift shop.

"Blasted young fool! I see you and you won't get away!" Ben said as he angrily aimed both his hands at the young warlock, unfoundedly for the mayor and Mr. McKnight though Ben's powers managed to obliterate the gift shop in his search for the young sorcerer, which dismayed them both.

"Not the gift shop! We need that for tourists" Mayor Corey said as he sighed in anguish.

"Sorry mayor, just blame Ben here, he's the one who destroyed it" Shaggy said as he stuck his head out form his hiding place.

"I wouldn't have had to destroy it if you weren't hiding over there Shaggy" Ben replied, aiming his powers at the young warlock once again, who continued to duck them and dodge them very nicely.

"Grr! Why won't you stay still so I can destroy you!" Ben declared.

"Like because unlike you, I not only am a warlock, but I was on my high school's gymnastics and track teams, I can really move and am very flexible, unlike you who probably wasn't interested in sports when you were my age" Shaggy said, finding a place to hid behind another tree.

"For your information I wanted to be an author when I was your age, and I certainly didn't waste my time solving mysteries and chasing ghosts, I was working on my studies and my early books, I would never waste my time with anything that you've ever done Shaggy" Ben said, using his powers again to try and capture Shaggy, who escaped his wrath rather easily.

"Nothing I've ever done is a waste of time, I've had jobs before, I've worked for a living, and I was a good student in high school, I got B and A minuses because I had people who helped me and showed me how to be successful, you on the other hand, probably have never had a friend in your life, you've probably never had a girlfriend either have you?" Shaggy asked, while still managing to run through the park, avoiding the warlock's powers.

"Jinkies, Shaggy's really holding his own against Ben, I'm impressed" Velma remarked from the group's hiding place, albeit in a whisper.

"Jeepers, me too, Shaggy's turning out to be a great warlock and a powerful one at that" Daphne added.

"Reah, Rhaggy's really rood at rhis" Scooby replied.

"Right and now that Shaggy's keeping Ben busy, let's see if we can free the Hex Girls, the mayor and Mr. McKnight, come on gang" Fred remarked; with that, the four of them walked out from behind the tree, heading towards where Ben had trapped the trio of musicians and the mayor and the pharmacist.

Meanwhile, Shaggy Rogers was still giving Ben Ravencroft fits; the young warlock and the older author turned warlock were staging a warlock equivalent to the Battle of the Ages, or a classic Heavyweight boxing title fight, the two of them were going toe to toe, man to man, and as the gang watched while the two of them used their respective magic powers, they realized that Shaggy was no longer the same Shaggy the gang had known since all of them were little, now Shaggy was beyond determined, he truly believed that he could defeat Ben Ravencroft and save the world and Oak Haven from his wrath.

"Rogers, you blasted fool, come back here!" Ben declared as Shaggy continued trying to avoid the author turned warlock.

"Why? So you can use your powers to destroy me?" Shaggy asked.

"No, so I can talk to you" Ben replied; these words caused the young warlock to do a double take and turn around to face the author again.

"Let me get this straight, you Ben Ravencroft, want to talk to me Shaggy? What for?" Shaggy asked, with a bit of suspicion his voice.

"Because, I want to call a truce; I want to ask you something Rogers" Ben replied.

"Very well, what is it?" Shaggy asked.

"First, can you put down the spell book, I can't talk to you if you are holding it in your hands" Ben replied; while the two warlocks spoke, Velma looked over and saw what was going on, she noticed a bit of an evil look in Ben's eyes and called over to Shaggy to warn him of what the author was up to.

"Shaggy, don't put down that book, Ben looks like he's planning something" Velma said, hoping Shaggy would hear him.

"Well well, it looks like Velma really cares for you Shaggy; I wonder what she'll say when I do this!" Ben said as he used his powers to send the young warlock flying across the grass and against a nearby tree, which caused her to run over and check on him.

"Shaggy, are you all right?" Velma asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I think so, but that was a cheap shot if I ever saw one; that Ravencroft is really starting to make me mad, he's playing dirty now" Shaggy remarked, however the author turned sorcerer heard this statement and spoke to the pair of sleuths.

"Oh, well, if that's playing dirty, then I wonder what this would be?" Ben asked, aiming his magic for Shaggy once again, but this time he used his powers, Shaggy Rogers was healthy and unharmed, but as he attempted to stand up, a certain book was missing from Shaggy's hands.

"The spell book!" Shaggy said, trying to locate the volume, which had vanished from his possession.

"Looking for this Rogers?" Ben asked, laughing evilly and holding up the spell book as he spoke.

"You! How did you do that?" Shaggy asked.

"That's my little secret Rogers, and now that I have the book I can bring Sarah Ravencroft back from the dead" Ben said as he began leafing through the volume.

"You've been reading too many of your own horror stories Ravencroft!" Fred said, after he and Daphne joined the rest of the group, as the blond young adult pointed at the author turned warlock.

"A typical mortal response" Ben replied.

"Well Fred here may just be a simple mortal, but I'm more than that Ben Ravencroft, and I know I'm more than powerful enough to stop you in your insane plans" Shaggy remarked.

"Really? Ha, I'm more powerful than you will ever be; besides Shaggy, an amateur like yourself could never defeat me!" Ben said laughing in a sickening manner.

"Like why do you keep saying that? You know I'm more powerful then you'll ever be, I'm still here and you don't stand a ghost of a chance in bringing back your ancestor" Shaggy replied.

"Oh very funny Rogers, very funny you know I never get tired of your candor, partly because you're an opponent who I can toy with as much as possible" Ben remarked.

"Toy? I'm not some jack in the box Ravencroft, you may think your hot stuff, but I can still take you down a few pegs" Shaggy replied.

"Oh really? Well, since you mentioned hot stuff, maybe I can give your friends a bit of a hot foot and a few other things as well" Ben remarked, laughing evilly as he spoke.

"Hot stuff? You wouldn't, you couldn't, and you shouldn't!" Shaggy replied.

"Guess what, I will, I am and I will!" Ben commented as he raised his arms and used his magic on Shaggy Rogers once again; only this time Shaggy found that he was encased in a green force field and couldn't break free of it.

"Like what have you done to me Ravencroft?" Shaggy growled as he stared at the author.

"Well, let's just say you won't be a threat to me for a while; you see I've put you inside a force field, and by the time you break free of it, I'll have summoned Sarah Ravencroft and will be that much closer to taking over the world!" Ben remarked, laughing evilly as he spoke.

"Ben, what's the matter with you? You were such a great author, you were one of my idols, you shouldn't be doing this, you should leave Shaggy alone, he isn't hurting you, he's trying to stop you in your plans, he's only trying to help" Velma said, begging and pleading with the author to reconsider what he was currently doing.

"Sorry Velma, I'm having way too much fun, and Shaggy is an easy target for me, he calls himself a warlock but he isn't, he's an amateur and not a match for me" Ben replied.

"Just wait till I get out of here Ravencroft, then you'll be sorry!" Shaggy said, still trying to break free from his prison.

"Try all you want to get out of there Shaggy, but you won't, only the pure bloods and the most powerful warlocks can escape a trap like that and I don't think you qualify" Ben laughed menacingly.

"Ben please, release Shaggy before it's too late, please!" Velma said, still trying to reason with the warlock.

"What's the matter Velma, don't you like the new improved Ben Ravencroft?" Ben asked with an evil smile, while he took off his glasses.

"Frankly Ben, I don't" Velma replied, looking over at Shaggy every few moments to see him still struggling with his magical trap; by this time Scooby Doo had came over to Shaggy's side and was also trying to help him, but to no avail.

"Well get used to it!" Ben commented.

"Get used to what? Trapping innocent people because they get in your way? Trapping another warlock because you don't consider them as powerful as you, well if that's the new Ben Ravencroft, then I hope you disappear forever!" Velma replied.

"Sorry Velma, I don't plan on disappearing any time soon, in fact now that Shaggy's trapped, he has no chance of saving the three of you from what I have in store" Ben said as he laughed evilly; unfortunately for him, Fred and Daphne had left Velma's side and were beginning to attempt to approach the author/warlock.

Ben of course saw this and was more then capable of taking an opportunity to take care of two of the members of Mystery Inc., or at least to keep them away from him and the book for a while, which he was hoping to do; the red head and the blond young adult then got to Ben Ravencroft and attempted to grab the spell book so that Shaggy could use it, if he managed to escape that is, but unfortunately for them, he managed to escape their grasp rather easily and broke free.

"Where did he go?" Daphne asked, however her statement was interrupted as Ben began laughing evilly from atop the roof of a nearby building.

"This isn't one of your silly little mysteries; you can't solve me so easy!" Ben remarked, still laughing like a mad man.

"Ravencroft! Knock it off, your battle isn't with them, it's with me! Shaggy declared from his containment.

"Sorry Shaggy, I have plans and before I can enact them, I have to take care of these meddling kids!" Ben declared.

"Hey we're not kids!" Fred replied, rather annoyed with the author turned sorcerer.

"Yeah Ravencroft, besides could a kid do this!" Shaggy said as he began trying to escape the force field once again; Shaggy tried and tried as hard as he could, with a look of determination and confidence on his face to escape his containment, finally with Scooby Doo at his side, like a great warrior who had just won a battle, Shaggy managed to break through the containment that Ben had placed him in.

However as he fell to the ground, he found that he was exhausted, at least magically; he was hoping that this was temporary and not permanent, because the next thing he knew he and Scooby Doo watched as a large plume of fire then come from Ben's hand; the ring of fire surrounded Fred, Daphne and Velma and made them quite nervous, because like any animal or human being, if they got too close to the fire, it would most likely burn them to a crisp, which would mean no more Mystery Inc. and no more friendship between the five sleuths, if they weren't careful.

"So Velma, what do you think of my powers now?" Ben asked, keeping the trio at bay by keeping the ring of fire going.

"Like I said Ben, I don't like them" Velma replied.

"Hmm… so I take it you still like that Shaggy's powers better then mine right?" Ben asked.

"I like Shaggy much better then you, Ben, at least he would never hurt innocent people with his powers and he wouldn't trap people in a ring of fire" Velma replied.

"Like she's right Ravencroft" Shaggy said, carrying a pail of water as he and Scooby had made their way back over to the rest of the gang.

"Boy, you are a washout, get it, washout?" Ben said, laughing evilly as he spoke.

"Yes I get it Ravencroft and you will soon as well" Shaggy replied.

"Oh really? You know I thought you were quite powerful, that you were a great warlock, that you were wonderful, but now I see you with a pail of water and I wonder, what's he going to do with it?" Ben asked.

"For your information my powers are really exhausted from escaping from your traps Ravencroft, and a pail of water works just as well as magic to douse a fire" Shaggy said, looking at the author like he was up to something.

"You mean?" Ben asked.

"Right!" Shaggy said as he threw the pail towards the fire, which instantly and easily doused the flames; although for some reason it didn't douse Mystery Inc., probably because the group of sleuths were kneeling down and managed to avoid the water.

"Meddling young warlock! That was one of my best spells!" Ben declared as he leapt down from the building and held the spell book in his hands.

"Sorry Ben old boy, I didn't mean to spoil your fun, but I couldn't let you hurt my friends, or Velma" Shaggy replied, as Velma clung to him, while Fred and Daphne clung to each other as well; meanwhile Scooby Doo watched the proceedings with interest, hoping his friends would be all right in the end.

"Meddling fools, you still have no real idea of the powers I possess and of what I can really do!" Ben remarked.

"Don't say that Ben, don't do this, please for my sake, please give us the spell book and…" Velma replied, however before she could finish, Ben Ravencroft raised his hands and stopped her speech immediately.

"Silence Velma! Now, I am going to teach the five of you once and for all, to never ever mess with an evil warlock" Ben declared, while above him the clouds began to swirl around and change into a very dark, half grey half black color, which worried the gang and Shaggy in particular.

"Like I don't like the looks of those clouds" Shaggy remarked, gazing up at the sky and sounding quite worried.

"Jinkies, me neither" Velma added, while Ben started laughing evilly once again.

"Well, well, well, it looks like I've got the members of the great Mystery Inc. trapped once again, and now it's time to prove to you all, especially you Shaggy, that I am indeed the most powerful warlock of all, it's time to unleash the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft, and together she and I will rule supreme over the land and everyone on it!" Ben declared, reading the book and looking for the spell to summon his ancestor.

"You'll never get away with this Ravencroft, we'll stop you, I'll stop you!" Shaggy replied with a look of determination on his face once more.

"Fat chance Shaggy, I am going to rule with Sarah Ravencroft forever, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Ben declared, using his powers to both create a large group of the darkest clouds you could ever imagine, and to move the very Earth, which caused Scooby and the gang to fall off balance and be jostled about due to Ben's magic.

"Shaggy, you've got to do something" Velma remarked as she held Shaggy's arm, while the two of them and Scooby Doo were attempting to stand up.

"Like what can I do Velma? I don't have the spell book and Ben's going to bring back Sarah Ravencroft from the dead, plus I'm just getting my powers back, I don't want to deal with Ben without my full abilities" Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy, you should know by now, you can defeat Ben Ravencroft, even without your full powers; even if you have some magic, you can defeat him I know it!" Velma remarked, still with her hand on his shoulder.

"I hope so Velma, I hope so" Shaggy replied, whispering into her ear.

"All right, enough of these games Mystery Inc., it's time to unleash the force of one of the most evil women to roam the Earth: Sarah Ravencroft, because I just so happen to have the page with the spell to unleash Sarah once and for all, would you like to hear it?" Ben asked, grinning evilly.

Fred and Daphne hugged each other tightly, while Shaggy and Velma did the same thing, with Scooby Doo watching them and Ben carefully; the black haired warlock/author looked down at the sinister spell book with anticipation in his voice, as at last he was ready to return Sarah Ravencroft to the world.

"Now, time to do what I have wanted to do for so long, to read the words that will bring Sarah Ravencroft back to life at last: dreadful darkness, hear my cry, bring back one who cannot die, let the witch who perished here, live again and re-appear!" Ben said as the sky continued to become several shades of grey, black and numerous dark colors, in addition a strange grey and green mist swirled down from the atmosphere and began forming on the ground, which caused the gang to gasp in terror at the events progressing in Oak Haven.

"Like what have you done Ravencroft? From talking to my grandparents, what's happening is that soon, someone will come back from the dead, someone quite evil and demonic" Shaggy said, worried about what would happen next.

"What I've done Shaggy, is create one of the most powerful alliances in the history of mankind, Sarah Ravencroft, a witch from the past and my ancestor, along with yours truly, a warlock of the highest caliber; together, we will rule over the world for all eternity, in short this is evil's finest hour!" Ben remarked, laughing now demonically as he spoke.

The author turned warlock continued to hold the book and soon a strange green and grey cloud of mist came out of the book and appeared right before Ben and the gang; once the cloud of mist finished its appearance, Scooby, Fred, Daphne and Velma looked on in fright at the sight of a woman wearing colonial clothing, and looking quite ghostly; while Shaggy watched the scene unfold, he was shocked, stunned and flabbergasted all at the same time, he frankly could not believe that what was occurring in the town, somehow, someway Ben Ravencroft had brought back his ancestor and judging by the look on her face, Shaggy was going to need to regain his powers rather quickly in order to stop Sarah and Ben in their plans.

"I don't believe it, I've waited all my life for this, and in my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined such an enchanting creature" Ben remarked.

"I thank thee for thee modesty, tell me who art thou?" Sarah Ravencroft asked, smiling at the compliment the warlock had given him.

"I am Ben Ravencroft, your ancestor from the modern world" Ben explained, however Sarah was none too pleased to hear the m word from her relative.

"Modern? I see not much has changed" Sarah said, gazing about at the world in front of her, particularly at the groveling mayor and Mr. McKnight.

"But Sarah, much has changed in the world since your imprisonment, the world has gone through wars, assassinations, numerous important events, in fact since your imprisonment, you would be pleased to learn that you are standing in the country of the United States of America" Ben replied.

"The United States you say? Hmm… I only see the same groveling peasants who I had to deal with during my time on Earth in the past" Sarah remarked, turning up her nose at the thought of the modern world.

"But Sarah, we now have television, radio, communications systems that no one in the 1600's could have imagined in their wildest dreams" Ben replied.

"Nay, I do not care for these things called radio or television, now that I'm free I am going to create an era of darkness over this land!" Sarah commented as she aimed her hand at a grove of nearby trees; however, being a witch, her powers caused the trees branches to become broken; in short the ghost had started to obliterate the trees, which surprised Ben greatly.

"No, no, no! This isn't what I envisioned at all, I wanted us to rule together, we were supposed to take control of the world, with our combined magic, we would be unstoppable, why, why are you doing this Sarah?" Ben asked, flabbergasted at what he was seeing.

"Because, while thou hast freed me, I am going to use my new found freedom to punish the world for my long imprisonment" Sarah replied as she grinned evilly.

"But why? Why would you punish the modern world, just because a group of people in the 1600's imprisoned you in the journal?" Ben asked.

"Foolish man, I was imprisoned then because I went from being a good and kind healer to an evil sorceress; all those centuries I was angry with the world and everyone in it because I was stuck in that blasted book, now that I am free, I can wreak my vengeance on the world, including you" Sarah said, noticing that Ben Ravencroft had an angry look on his face.

"No!" Ben declared.

"No? Thou dare tell me no?" Sarah replied, with fire in her eyes.

"Yes, Sarah Ravencroft; I am doing what the Wiccans did lo those many years ago, I am standing up to you!" Ben remarked.

"So you dare stand up to me, the great and powerful Sarah Ravencroft? Very well, since I care not for thy whims and because you have crossed my path, I shall destroy thee along with thy world!" Sarah declared.

"You can try, but you're forgetting one thing: I still have the book and I can send you back into the book just as easily" Ben replied.

"Oh really? Then maybe thou would like to attempt to imprison me once again? Or are you frightened that I might destroy you as I have destroyed others before you!" Sarah remarked.

"I am not afraid! And I will send you back to where you came from: Ancient evil get thee hence. Only good can recupence" Ben said as he found the spell to send Sarah Ravencroft back into the book, her prison for several centuries, except for one thing: Sarah was standing in front of him, laughing at him and overall taunting and mocking him.

"Thinkest thou art a Wiccan? Only a virtuous soul can imprison me!" Sarah said as she pointed directly in his face, laughing all the while.

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked.

"I mean this: only a true, pure-hearted Wiccan can banish me, and I doubt that you qualify; you see, you have an evil soul, your heart is black as the night and so is your magic; only someone who has a good heart, a pure soul and whose magic is pure and good can send me back into the book" Sarah explained, cackling as she spoke.

"A good Wiccan? Is there such a thing?" Ben asked aloud to no one in particular.

"Well, thou shall never find out if there is a good Wiccan here, in fact thou will not find out anything for quite some time!" Sarah said as she aimed her hands at Ben Ravencroft; a few moments later, the famed author and now warlock became trapped in a green magical sphere, needless to say Ben wasn't too happy and began banging and pounding on the sphere for someone to let him out.

"Help! Someone get me out of here!" Ben declared.

"Fool! You had your chance, and you refused to cooperate with me, now you shall remain a prisoner of your own evil!" Sarah replied, cackling as she spoke.

Sarah Ravencroft then turned away from Ben and floated over towards the group of sleuths and their Great Dane, looking them up and down; she looked to be curious, watching every movement the five of them made, both physical in addition to the movement in their eyes and faces as well, in particular she seemed to be looking at a certain member of Mystery Inc. and as she watched Shaggy Rogers, she seemed to have some interest in him, although whether it was friendly or something else remained to be seen.

"Well, what do we have here?" Sarah asked; the ghostly witch's eyes seemed to pierce the young cowardly warlock's ones like a hot knife through butter and although part of Shaggy wanted to run for the hills, most of him wanted to stay and try and stop the witch, one way or another and before she delivered on her threats to destroy the world and Scooby Doo and friends as well.

Author's Notes: Hopefully everyone likes the battle portion of the chapter between Ben and Shaggy; things are going to get a lot more interesting in the next chapter, which is the next to last one for this story, as the full story will take 11 chapters to tell.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Fred, Daphne, Velma and Scooby stood in somewhat fear of the spectral witch known as Ben Ravnecroft, who lived nearly 250 years ago, but now was standing or rather floating in front of Mystery Inc.; Shaggy Rogers however was standing toe to toe with the witch, not afraid of her or what she might or might not do to him, Shaggy was really the picture of confidence as he faced the sorceress, probably because he had magical blood within him, which gave him a major boost of bravery, although because he was dealing with the ghost of a sorceress who lived almost two centuries ago, he figured he would need all the confidence he could get.

"Tell me, who art thou?" Sarah Ravencroft asked, pointing at Shaggy while she floated in the air as if there was no solid ground to stand on.

"Me ma'am?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes you" Sarah replied.

"Well, like my name is, uh Norville Rogers, but people usually call me by my nickname: Shaggy" Shaggy replied, not knowing whether he should cast a spell on her or run in terror, or something else.

"Hmm… thou are quite an interesting young man Norville, that is if you are a young man; and judging by your appearance you are a rather young individual" the spirit remarked.

"Thank you Miss Ravencroft, I am fairly young actually, specifically I'm in my mid twenties" Shaggy stated.

"Ah, I see, thou art very strong for a person of such youth" the ghost replied.

"Why thank you" Shaggy remarked.

"You're welcome Norville, tell me: you stand in front of me, one of the most powerful witches in the world and someone who could crush you like a bug, but yet you are not afraid of me, you seem brave, almost unafraid of me, when others like you are or have been afraid of me because of my power, why is this?" Sarah Ravencroft inquired.

"Well you see ma'am, I am not like other mortals of my age, unlike most mortals of my age group which includes my friends, I am a practitioner of sorcery, specifically a warlock" Shaggy replied, rather calmly.

"Interesting, thou does not seem much like a warlock, and thou certainly does not seem to be anything like my so called modern ancestor" Sarah's spirit remarked, looking over at Ben Ravencroft who was still encased in a large green energy field.

"Help! Get me out of here!" Ben shouted.

"Quiet worm!" Sarah declared, which ceased the author turned warlock's speech immediately.

"Thank you Miss Ravencroft" Shaggy replied.

"You're welcome Norville, judging by your facial reactions and your response to my comment to my ancestor, I would wager that you are not a friend of his by any sense of the imagination" Sarah's ghost remarked.

"You would win that bet miss, I mean he did try and roast my girlfriend, several times; and believe me, anyone who tries to harm my friends or my girlfriend for that matter, is no friend of mine" Shaggy replied.

"Tell me, who exactly is the lucky girl Mr. Rogers, I'm sure it must be someone with a wonderful spirit, someone whose personality must fit yours to a tee" Sarah's ghost remarked.

"You see that young woman with the glasses, her name's Velma, that's my girlfriend" Shaggy responded, motioning over at the young woman who was waiting with Fred, Daphne and Scooby, hoping that Shaggy would come out of his encounter with the witch's spirit unharmed.

"Ahh, she does look lovely; and a wonderful person to be in love with, I would suggest you keep a close eye on her and make sure nothing happens to her, you wouldn't want to lose someone like her" Sarah Ravencroft replied.

"Thanks; you know you don't seem like such a bad person, how on earth did you become so evil anyway?" Shaggy asked.

"Do you really want to know Mr. Rogers?" Sarah Ravencroft asked, in a sinister tone of voice.

"L-like yes actually" Shaggy replied nervously.

"Are you sure? Because you look very intimated by me" Sarah's ghost remarked.

"L-like no offense ma'am, but ghosts kind of scare me, and well considering you are one, you kind of make me nervous" Shaggy replied.

"Ah, I see; you know, most warlocks usually aren't afraid of ghosts and things like that, but yet you seem to be frightened of my very presence" Sarah remarked.

"Well Miss Ravencroft, I'm not like other warlocks; heck, I didn't even know I was a warlock until I got a letter from my grandparents one day, they told me in the letter that they were a warlock and witch; needless to say I was surprised to say the least, I mean I thought my grandparents were dead for many years, but one day I get a letter out of the blue saying that they live in upstate New York, in a big mansion" Shaggy replied.

"Interesting, go on" Sarah remarked.

"Well, that day I read the letter my grandparents sent me saying that they were sorcerers, it also said that I was a warlock and destined to inherit their powers and abilities, along with all the magical items they had accumulated over the years; all I had to do was pick up the key to their house from their attorney's office and that I had to spend 3 days in the house, without leaving; naturally the place was haunted and I had to deal with all manner of creepy things, no offense" Shaggy continued.

"None taken" Sarah replied.

"Eventually I managed to spend three days in the mansion and was able to stay in the house; later on the third day, I was visited by my grandparents and great grandparents who were also a witch and warlock, because I stuck around, my grandparents presented me with all their spell books and things like that, which enabled me to bring out my magical side, and now I'm a warlock" Shaggy remarked.

"Fascinating, your grandparents must have been pretty proud of you to entrust their magical gifts to you Shaggy" Sarah replied.

"They certainly were proud of me and they still are for that matter" Shaggy remarked.

"You know Norville, I really wish I didn't have to destroy thee" Sarah replied.

"Like you know you don't have to Miss Ravencroft, you can agree to become a good witch just like I'm a good warlock; I mean with all of your power you can do some real good in the world, you could help my friends and I scare some phony ghosts and monsters, you could even assist the president if you wanted to, all you have to do is change from being an evil witch to a good one" Shaggy remarked.

"I'm sorry Shaggy, I really am, I wish I could do like you said and become good like you, but I've been evil for far too long and frankly I need to punish the world for trapping me in that journal several centuries ago" Sarah replied.

"But must you? Can't you simply let me send you back into the spell book and then we can forget about this" Shaggy suggested.

However, after he suggested Sarah Ravencroft switch teams as it were for the second or third time, she became furious, her eyes looked even more demonic and evil then they had previously been, in short she wanted to destroy Shaggy now before any more time passed, which confused the young warlock greatly.

"Miss Ravencroft please, we're your friends, we don't want to hurt you, we just want to put you away for your own safety, please listen to us" Shaggy explained.

"Nay, I will never turn back to being a good Wiccan ever again, my days of helping mankind are at an end!" Sarah declared as the skies became an eerie combination of black, grey and blue once again, which left Shaggy with only one alternative.

"All right Miss Ravencroft, since you won't listen to reason and you won't become a good Witch, you leave me with no other option then this: my friends and I are going to retrieve that spell book and send you back where you came from" Shaggy explained.

"Fool! Thou seems to forget something, if Ben Ravencroft my own ancestor couldn't send me back, then what makes thee think thou can send me back to my prison?" Sarah asked, cackling as she spoke.

"Well you seem to forget something Sarah, I am nothing like that evil Ben Ravencroft, I am more powerful then he was and I am a pure and good hearted warlock" Shaggy said as cracked his knuckles and aimed his hands at the ghost.

"What does thou thinkest they are doing?" Sarah's ghost asked, seemingly trying to block Shaggy from using his powers.

"This, Sarah Ravencroft!" Shaggy declared as a strange light green glow came from the young sorcerer's hands, despite the fact that she was a mere spirit, but a witch nonetheless, Shaggy's magic seemed to have an immediate effect on her as she began stumbling backwards, while still managing to keep her balance.

"Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby, you guys try and get the spell book while I keep Sarah's ghost busy" Shaggy commanded to the rest of his friends as the four of them watched Shaggy try and keep the spirit at bay.

"Right Shaggy, come on gang!" Fred replied.

"Freddie, do you really think Shaggy can stop Sarah Ravencroft? I mean Ben couldn't stop her, so what makes Shaggy think he can do it?" Daphne asked as the four sleuths began walking towards the area behind the witch.

"Daphne, I've known Shaggy for years, ever since we were kids; and this is the most sure of anything he's ever been in his life, I mean he's really got a determined look on his face, ever since he became a warlock it seems as if he's gotten braver and less cowardly, I definitely think his powers are strong enough to stand up to Sarah's" Fred replied.

"I certainly hope so Fred, I love Shaggy so much, I just don't want anything to happen to him" Velma said, beginning to tear up as she spoke.

"Ron't rorry Relma, Rhaggy's ry rest friend, re'll re okay" Scooby replied as he placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Thanks Scooby, you really are man's best friend, not to mention girl's best friend as well" Velma responded; by this time the four of them were now in sight of the spell book and the team of detectives were ready to put a plan into action to retrieve the book, once and for all.

"OK gang, here's what we'll do: Daphne and I will try and get the witch's attention, while Velma, you and Scooby grab the spell book, then Shaggy can read the spell to send Sarah Ravencroft back to where she came from, at least I hope this will work and that's what will happen" Fred explained.

"Right Fred, come on Scooby" Velma replied.

With that, the gang headed in their separate directions to make sure Fred's plan would work out the way he had drawn it up in his head, of course when dealing with a witch's ghost, there was a definite possibility that Fred's plan might not work the way he wanted it to work, which was something that the five members of the group definitely kept in mind.

Fred and Daphne were now standing out in the open, there wasn't much protecting them from the wrath of the witch's ghost except for their wits, which might be something they might need if they were to defeat the ghost; with the witch's spirit in their sights, they began Operation Spell Book by trying to get the spirit's attention, by any means possible.

"Hey broom rider!" Fred declared; hearing this the witch turned her attention from Shaggy Rogers, to the blond young adult, needless to say she wasn't very happy with the young man and decided to voice her displeasure with him.

"Thou dare speaketh to me in such a tone?" Sarah asked.

"Right, and 600 years hasn't helped your aim either lady" Fred replied; with that, the two of them began running away from her at top speed, however she was ready for them and began trying to pursue and capture them.

"Thy mockery will be thy last! You won't get away from me!" Sarah declared as she aimed her hand at a group of pumpkins; suddenly the pumpkins began growing eyes, their limbs began coming alive, in short they were trying to capture Fred and Daphne, which the two of them weren't happy about.

"Jeepers! That witch sent those pumpkins to try and catch us" Daphne explained, trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah, well we're not going to let those vegetables get us, I've got a little surprise for them, come on Daph, this way!" Fred explained; the two sleuths then split as fast as their feet could carry them, hoping their feet were faster then the pumpkins.

Meanwhile having managed to get a break from using his powers, Shaggy had rejoined Velma and Scooby Doo, as the three of them were attempting to make sure that the witch wouldn't send anything to capture the trio of detectives.

"Phew, like am I glad you guys decided to figure out a way to capture that witch, I didn't think I could stand up against her using my magic for much longer" Shaggy remarked, wiping her brow as he spoke and looking very sweaty as well.

"Don't worry Shaggy, we'll figure a way to defeat her, plus since we have a warlock on our side we can beat her, I know it" Velma said as she hugged Shaggy before giving him a kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks Velma, that means a lot to me; now, we've got to get that spell book before that witch gets it" Shaggy replied.

Shaggy, Velma and Scooby Doo then came out of their hiding place and began walking towards the spectral sorceress; while they were doing that, Fred and Daphne had managed to avoid the witch's pumpkin lackeys, the witch had tried everything to capture the two sleuths, but the pumpkins had the unfortunate distinction of being pumpkins and crashed into a tree, which enabled the two of them to escape capture.

"Like it looks like Fred and Daphne are doing a good job of keeping that witch occupied, come on Velma, Scooby, we have to get that spell book and now might be our chance" Shaggy commented.

With that Shaggy, Scooby Doo, and Velma continued headed towards the witch, soon, within a few moments as a matter of fact, they were only a few feet away from the sorceress, which meant that it was time for Shaggy to retrieve the book, while Velma and Scooby kept her busy once again.

The cowardly Great Dane then slowly tip toed over to the where the book was and attempted to use his tail to corral said volume, but unfortunately for him a certain ghostly sorceress saw the canine and realized that something was up; so she reached her hand out as far as she could and grabbed the canine.

"Relp Rhaggy, Relma!" Scooby declared.

"Like don't worry Scooby, I'm coming!" Shaggy replied as he ran over and cast a small spell on the sorceress; as usual and thankfully for him, Shaggy's magic seemed to freeze the ghost's hand, which allowed her to drop Scooby Doo onto the ground.

"Rhaggy!" the Great Dane said as he licked Shaggy's face repeatedly.

"Like okay Scooby, okay, I'm glad to see you're okay too, now come on we have to get that spell book before anything else happens" Shaggy said as he and Scooby Doo ran towards the spell book and took it rather easily, which enraged Sarah Ravencroft as she broke the spell that was incanted on her.

"Foolish child, the book is useless to you!" Sarah said as tried to use her magic once again on the young warlock, but thankfully for Shaggy and Scooby, the young sorcerer was ready and opened up the book, he then found a spell and was ready to incant it but was interrupted by the sinister sorceress using her magic again.

Only this time, she had turned several pumpkins into living creatures and with their newfound mobility, the vegetables were sent by Sarah to chase Fred, Daphne and Velma, who looked back every few moments only to see the pumpkins continuing to chase them; while Fred and Daphne were continuing to be chased by the pumpkins, Velma managed to escape them and was rested against a tree.

"Phew, that was close" Velma said, wiping her brow; noticing that the young woman was okay, Shaggy ran over to her side and reunited with his girlfriend, who was very happy to see the young warlock again.

"Like boy am I glad to see you Velma, how on earth did you escape those pumpkins?" Shaggy asked, hugging the young woman as he spoke.

"Let's just say I got really lucky; speaking of which, it looks like you have the spell book now" Velma replied.

"Like yeah, and let's keep it that way; so any ideas on how we can defeat that witch?" Shaggy asked.

Velma was about ready to answer his question when the trio of sleuths saw that the sinister sorceress had used her magic to transform a regular turkey into one monster turkey, which was both good news and bad news to Shaggy at the same time.

"Zoinks, like look at the size of those drumsticks! Those could keep me and you in meals for a year Scooby" Shaggy said as he leaned over and spoke to his canine companion.

"Reah" the Great Dane said as he licked his lips.

"Never mind that now guys, we have to get past that turkey and figure out a way to get rid of Sarah Ravencroft for good" Velma explained.

"Right Velma, I just hope we can take care of Sarah once and for all soon" Shaggy replied.

With that Velma, Shaggy and Scooby came out of hiding, with Shaggy still holding the spell book; it was at this time that the young warlock decided to make good use of the fact that he was on the track team in high school and made like an Olympic runner, with the young woman and the canine sleuth in tow.

Finally the three of them found a place to hide behind another tree and waited for the monster turkey and pumpkins to leave before they could continue their attempt to get rid of the witch once and for all; however Velma knew the trio couldn't keep running forever and decided to figure out a plan to trap the witch's ghost once and for all, but first the trio needed to escape the monster turkey and pumpkins.

Eventually the trio escaped their pursuers and met up with Fred and Daphne once again; now that they were back together again, the five sleuths found themselves still at the mercy of Sarah Ravencroft, and needed some kind of plan to get her back into the book, which is what the gang were doing as they stood in a clearing, talking to one another.

"Jeepers, that witch's ghost means business, she just won't quit" Daphne remarked.

"Yeah, we've got to find a way to trap the witch before she tries any more of her tricks" Fred replied.

"Hmm… how do you capture a witch's ghost anyway?" Velma asked.

"Well like however you stop her, I'll be here and I can use my magic to trap her for good" Shaggy replied.

"Magic… hey, that gives me an idea Shaggy" Velma remarked.

"What is it Velma?" Shaggy asked.

"Simple and if it's okay with you Fred, I have a plan" Velma replied.

"Go ahead Velma, I don't mind" Fred remarked.

"Terrific; now, here's my idea: Fred, you and Daphne will keep that witch's ghost busy, while Shaggy, Scooby and I will free the Hex Girls" Velma replied.

"Like I think I get it Velma, Thorn said she has Wiccan blood, and maybe, just maybe if she and I team up to read that spell to send Sarah back into the book, our combined abilities might just be enough to trap her once and for all" Shaggy responded.

"Exactly, now come on, we have to free Thorn and the others before it's too late" Velma replied.

With that Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo headed for the stalks where Ben Ravencroft had trapped them and attempted to free them; while they did that, Fred and Daphne tried to get the spirit's attention, which was rather easy, the spectral sorceress then sent more monster pumpkins after Fred and Daphne, who captured the two sleuths with their vines and didn't let them get up.

Meanwhile the bespectacled young woman, the young warlock and the gang's cowardly canine had made it over to the stalks rather easily and without any ghostly interference; Velma then rather easily freed the trio of female musicians, of course now that they were free, the only thing the trio could think about is making like Shaggy and Scooby and splitting from Oak Haven once and for all.

"Thanks for freeing us but we're out of here" Dusk remarked.

"Me too" Luna replied.

"Yeah, that witch's ghost is the real thing, I'm getting out of here before she strikes again" Thorn said, getting ready to leave before Velma took hold of her arm and attempted reason with her.

"Wait Thorn, you can't leave yet" Velma replied.

"Like yeah, you have to help us read the spell that will send Sarah Ravencroft back to where she came from" Shaggy remarked.

"Are you crazy, I already told you; I'm not a real witch I can't help you, the three of us just pretend that stuff for the concerts and for the band" Thorn said trying to reason with Shaggy.

"But, like you do have Wiccan blood and that's close enough" Shaggy replied.

"I guess you're right, but before I help you guys, I just have one question" Thorn wondered.

"Like what is it?" Shaggy asked.

"Are you really a warlock, I mean that Ben Ravencroft was a warlock and look what happened to him" Thorn replied.

"Yes, but I'm nothing like Ben Ravencroft; besides would someone like him do this" Shaggy said as he closed his hands, when he opened them there was a beautiful black rose in one of them.

"Cool, that was amazing Shaggy, I've never seen anyone do that before well except for magicians that I've seen in person and on TV" Thorn replied with a smile.

"You're very welcome Thorn and here this is for you" Shaggy remarked handing Thorn the rose.

"Thank You Shaggy, with you helping I would be more than happy to assist you in reading the spell" Thorn replied.

"No problem Thorn, and with my magic, and your expertise that ghost doesn't have a chance" Shaggy remarked.

"Right, I just hope this plan works, now come on" Velma replied.

With that Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo walked towards the stage area, where the concert was scheduled to take place the next day; however, the three of them had a few problems on their way to the area where Velma planned for Thorn and Shaggy to read the spell, those problems being nearly captured by the monster pumpkins, monster turkey and almost by a monster tree, however thanks to Shaggy the three of them were able to escape their monstrous captors and make their way to the stage.

"Okay, we're here, now let's read that spell and trap Sarah Ravencroft once and for all" Velma said.

However, Shaggy, Velma and Scooby had yet another thing to worry about as Shaggy and Thorn prepared to read the spell, they saw that Sarah was coming towards them once again, needless to say she was unhappy with what was occurring and tried to trap the trio, but was unsuccessful because Shaggy and Thorn managed to channel the book's magic in addition to Thorn and Shaggy's respective magic, which helped them in their plan.

"Thou may have the book, but it useless to a mere mortal" Sarah said, ignoring the fact that she was dealing with two people who had magical blood.

"To a mortal maybe, but we just happen to be a good Wiccan and a good warlock and now it's time to send you back to where you came from Sarah Ravencroft!" Shaggy declared.

"Nay! No one can defeat me, I am all powerful!" Sarah replied angrily.

"Well we'll just see about that won't we, hit it Thorn!" Shaggy remarked.

"No! You cannot stop me!" Sarah replied yet again.

"Oh yes we will, and I'll help read the spell, what do you say Thorn?" Shaggy asked, looking over at her.

"Sounds good to me, now let's read the spell and end this thing once and for all" Thorn replied.

"Ladies first" Shaggy said, politely bowing in front of Thorn, before standing next to Velma and Thorn.

"Okay, here goes: Ancient Evil get thee hence" Thorn said, beginning the spell.

"Only good can recupence" Shaggy continued.

"For the misdeeds you have done" Thorn replied.

"Witch return from which you've come!" Shaggy and Thorn said in unison; right as Shaggy and Thorn finished the spell, Sarah's fingers grabbed the outer edges of the book, the sheer force of the spell was incredible, it weakened Sarah Ravencroft immensely and knocked her backwards, not to mention reversing all the spells that she had cast including the monster trees and pumpkins, which relieved Shaggy and Scooby immensely.

In addition to breaking all the spells that Sarah had cast, the spell on Ben Ravencroft was broken instantly, and the green magical energy sphere or bubble that he was locked inside was broken as well, which enabled Ben to make sure nothing happened to him, like if his clothes were out of place and his hair was messed up.

However, as the gang watched these events occur and the spell book fall to the ground, they could also see Sarah Ravencroft being sucked into the book as well, which was good news for one Ben Ravencroft, except for one tiny detail: Sarah was attempting to make darn sure that she wasn't going to be lonely in her prison as she grabbed Ben Ravencroft's ankle and began dragging him towards the spell book.

"I won't go back alone!" the ghost declared as she was sucked back into the book, with the author turned warlock screaming for his life, but alas it was not meant to be as he was sucked into the book in addition to the ghostly sorceress.

The gang then slowly approached the book, hoping to destroy it or hoping that Shaggy would use its magic to send it someplace where it wouldn't do any more harm, but alas that was not meant to be either, because a burning branch from one of the trees that Sarah had set on fire with her magic while she chased the gang earlier fell right onto the book.

From what it looked like, the flames immediately disintegrated the book, thereby trapping or killing the two villains; finally the adventure of the witch's ghost was over, but as Shaggy held Velma's shoulder, she delivered a fitting epitaph for the author turned wicked warlock, one that summed things up rather well.

"Ben Ravencroft's final book is one the world will never buy" Velma solemnly remarked.

"Like it's too bad, because it would have made a hot best seller" Shaggy replied, still holding Velma's shoulder.

With the witch's ghost and the wicked warlock trapped forever, Thorn, Dusk and Luna rushed over to the stalks and freed the mayor and Mr. McKnight, with Shaggy, Scooby, Velma, Fred and Daphne following behind; Mr. McKnight was very relived to see that his daughter was okay and decided to congratulate her on her special gift and her defeat, at least partially of the ghost.

"Congratulations Sally, you did it! I guess you really are a witch after all" Mr. McKnight said as he hugged his daughter.

"A wiccan daddy, a wiccan" Sally, or rather Thorn corrected him.

"Like you sure are Thorn, and you have to admit, you and I made a pretty good team defeating the witch huh?" Shaggy asked.

"We sure did Shaggy; and I'll admit, you are much different from Ben Ravencroft, how on earth did you become a warlock anyway?" Thorn asked.

"Like through my grandparents, as I was telling the ghost, they gave me all sorts of magical mementos because they were a witch and warlock, and I inherited their abilities pretty much" Shaggy replied.

"Wow, that's so cool; we might have to exchange e-mail addresses or something, I wouldn't mind asking you more about your family, hey that reminds me: would you mind if I delivered a little token of my affection?" Thorn asked.

"Like what do you think Velma?" Shaggy inquired, turning towards Velma.

"Sure Shaggy, but don't forget, I still want to deliver my own token of affection later" Velma replied, holding onto Shaggy's arm.

"No problem Vel" Shaggy remarked.

"Okay, now Thorn or Sally, what did you want to give me?" Shaggy asked; the black haired woman then gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, which surprised him to no end.

"Thorn, you kissed me" the young warlock added.

"I know, that was for helping me read the spell to defeat Sarah, and for the rose as well, it was very beautiful" Thorn replied.

"Well, you're beautiful as well Thorn; but not as beautiful as a certain young lady who wears glasses and an orange sweater" Shaggy remarked, before turning to Velma.

"I can pretty much guess who that is" Velma replied, before receiving a kiss on her cheek, which made her blush.

"Shaggy, that was very sweet of you; you know, maybe this magic thing is going to work out great after all, I mean you handled Sarah and Ben pretty well, you're thankfully still in one piece, and you still have your powers" Velma continued.

"Well, like why don't we see if I do" Shaggy said, before closing his hands and then his eyes; the young warlock then opened his eyes and hands and on the palm of his right hand was a beautiful white flower, which Velma recognized instantly.

"Well Shaggy, I guess your magic does still work" Velma replied, smiling as she spoke.

"Like it sure does and here, this is for you" Shaggy remarked, handing Velma the flower.

"Oh Shaggy this is beautiful, a daisy, just for me?" Velma asked.

"It sure is and you're pretty beautiful yourself" Shaggy replied, leaning into kiss Velma on the cheek once again.

However, while this was going on, Mayor Corey scanned the park area and was dismayed by what he saw; surrounding him was a ruined gift shop, a puritan village beyond repair and now witch's ghost to attract tourists.

"This is a disaster! The village is destroyed, there's nothing left, we've got nothing for our Autumn Fest!" the mayor declared in somewhat anger and somewhat annoyance.

"Well mayor you still have us" Thorn said, speaking of course about the Hex Girls.

"No offense girls, but I think we're going to need a bigger attraction for the Autumn Fest" Mayor Corey replied.

"Like Mayor Corey, I think I have a couple ideas; how about a giant turkey and a genuine warlock" Shaggy offered, as the mayor looked around and saw the giant turkey before turning back to him.

"A genuine warlock? No offense young man, but Ben Ravencroft was a warlock and he turned crazy" Mayor Corey responded.

"Trust me mayor, I'm nothing like him, in fact if you would like I can fix the Puritan village and the gift shop, magically of course, but it will still be fixed" Shaggy replied.

"Hmm… well, if you say you're good and you can do it, go right ahead, I've got nothing to lose at this point" Mayor Corey remarked.

"Okay mayor, stand back everyone" Shaggy said as he motioned for Scooby, Velma, Fred, Daphne, the mayor, Mr. McKnight and the Hex Girls to move out of the way, to avoid being hit by errant magic from Shaggy's spell.

Once everyone was moved out of harm's way, Shaggy cracked his knuckles and aimed his hands at the ruined gift shop; suddenly the small shop's roof became instantly fixed and by what the gang were seeing, it looked like everything inside of the shop was intact once again; but of course Shaggy wasn't done yet, he next aimed his hands at the areas of the village that Ben and the ghost had ruined and before you could say Hocus Pocus, the village was for the most part standing and intact once again, just like it had been before the witch and Ben attacked it.

The mayor of Oak Haven then rubbed his eyes in disbelief and looked around, everything was indeed fixed and when Mayor Corey ran over to the gift shop he went inside and saw that every single item available for sale was completely intact and repaired; it was for lack of a better word a miracle, which the mayor was immediately happy about as he ran over and hugged the cowardly warlock.

"Congratulations my boy, you did it! Everything's repaired as good as new, how on earth did you do it?' Mayor Corey asked.

"Like by magic sir" Shaggy replied simply.

"Well your magic is wonderful, in fact, if it's all right with you, for the rest of the night would you mind doing magic for the townsfolk and before the concert tomorrow?" Mayor Corey asked.

"I would love to mayor, I would love to" Shaggy replied.

With that Mayor Corey and Shaggy Rogers shook each other's hands, which allowed the young warlock to use his talents to help people, the way he had envisioned him using them when he got his powers in the first place; after several hours of magic, the gang, the mayor, the Hex Girls and Mr. McKnight all returned to their respective places of residence, Scooby and company of course had gotten to stay at the mayor's house because they had helped save the day yet again.

With the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft defeated and Ben trapped forever in the spell book Mystery Inc. had a rare chance since they arrived in Oakhaven to relax, which was a good thing because they needed it after such an exciting adventure.

Because they were now friends, the Hex Girls invited Scooby and company to perform on stage with them at their concert the next evening, the gang had a whale of a time playing with their musical friends and would remember this particular night for the rest of their lives, especially Shaggy who managed to do something very admirable, he had used his warlock powers for good and had saved the world, which is something he would never forget, as long as he lived.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was now about an hour after the concert ended and everyone had left the small park where the event was being held with the exception of the Hex Girls and Mystery Inc., with the other residents of the town on their respective ways home, Velma realized that it was the perfect opportunity to take some quiet time to herself and to ponder over the events of the past few days.

The bespectacled young girl sat on a nearby bench, holding her hands on her head and a look of disbelief on her face; she simply could not get over the fact that her favorite writer and for all intensive purposes her idol, had used her and the rest of Mystery Inc. to find the spell book for him.

"How could this happen? I trusted Ben and all he did was force the five of us to find that book for him, I should have known he was a warlock all along and that all he wanted was power" Velma thought.

While Velma had always been the smartest member of the group, any time that she wanted to start a relationship with someone it had gone badly every time; the young sleuth continued to sit, wondering why this should happen to her; she even thought of giving up men and dating forever, figuring that she might be hurt like this again.

Nearby Shaggy and Scooby were discussing things when the teen saw his friend sitting by herself, crying; the cowardly sleuth decided to talk to her to try and alleviate some of the pain he knew she must be going through.

"Like Velma's sure taking this Ben Ravencroft thing hard, she must have really respected the guy" Shaggy remarked with a sigh.

"Reah, rit's roo rad rhat re ras ruch a rerk" Scooby replied.

"I know Scooby, but I was kind of a jerk too you know" Shaggy commented.

"Rhy rere rou a rerk?" Scooby asked.

"Because, when I used my magic to try and defeat him I almost got myself killed; If that had happened, Ben might have tried to take advantage of me being gone by doing to something awful to her like hypnotizing her to make her his slave or making her love him, or marrying him" Shaggy replied.

"Rhat's rorrible!" Scooby responded with a shocked tone in his voice.

"I know Scooby, I know; I mean there has to be someway to cheer Velma up after going through what she had to go through" Shaggy remarked.

"Rhy ron't rou ralk to her? Rafter rall raren't you royfriend and rilfriend?" Scooby asked.

"You know Scooby, you're right; but I don't want to come on too strong and I don't want to hurt her like Ben hurt her" Shaggy replied.

"Rut romebody has to talk to her, ro rhy not rou?" Scooby questioned.

"Hmm, you know Scooby I think that's a good idea, come on let's go talk to Velma, maybe we can cheer her up after all" Shaggy answered.

With that Shaggy and Scooby walked over to the bench that Velma was sitting on and decided to see if she they could indeed cheer her up; although considering Ben Ravencroft's transformation from a caring and kind writer into a demented madman and evil warlock and how hard Velma was taking the fact that he had used her to find a spell book for him, it wasn't going to be easy; although considering that Shaggy and Velma had been dating and been boyfriend and girlfriend for quite some time, maybe the intelligent dark brown haired detective would listen to him.

The perpetually hungry and cowardly pair of sleuths now stood in front of the bench that Velma was sitting on and waited a few minutes to make sure that she would acknowledge the teenager and his Great Dane; the bespectacled teen then looked up for a moment and saw the smiling green shirted teenager standing and waiting patiently, in addition Scooby Doo was also standing and waiting patiently for Velma to talk to them, finally the bespectacled teenager began speaking to Shaggy and Scooby, which made the pair quite happy, as it seemed that Velma's attitude was finally changing from what it was since the gang had defeated Ben and Sarah Ravencroft.

"Like hi Velma, what's up?" Shaggy asked with a somewhat cheerful tone in his voice.

"Oh nothing much Shaggy, I'm just sitting here and thinking" Velma replied.

"Thinking about what?" Shaggy wondered.

"Just thinking about Ben Ravencroft, and how much of a demented psycho he was; I don't know why I trusted him in the first place, he was a complete nut job and I wish I had never ever met him!" Velma declared in anger as she began crying once again.

"It's okay Velma, it's okay; Ben's gone now, and he's never ever coming back, so he won't hurt anyone ever again" Shaggy said as he took Velma's right hand in his, making an attempt to comfort the bespectacled young woman.

"Shaggy thank you, I-I don't know what I would do without you" Velma replied as she began hugging the cowardly teen; the bespectacled teen felt her eyes tear up once again as she moved her head onto his shoulder, clearly Velma was happy that Shaggy was there for her; however, every minute that had passed since the mystery started, the teen warlock felt like he needed to reveal his true feelings, specifically why his female companion was spending more time with Ben Ravencroft then him, so the cowardly teen gently moved Velma's head off his shoulder.

Velma was a little confused as to why Shaggy did this, however when he took her dainty hand and looked at her face, specifically in her brown eyes, he realized that either he was going to ask Velma about her and Ben now, or he would miss his chance to do so; naturally Shaggy quickly made up his mind, so after taking a deep breath and after mustering up as much courage as he could, he held Velma's hand and looked into her beautiful brown eyes again.

"Velma, would you mind if I talked to you about something" Shaggy questioned.

"Sure Shaggy, what is it?" Velma answered.

"Well, like its kind of private, just between the two of us" Shaggy replied.

"Okay, sure, but what about Scooby?" Velma asked.

"Like you're okay right here, right Scooby?" Shaggy inquired.

"Rure Rhaggy, rou and Relma ro rahead and ralk" Scooby replied.

"Like cool, come on Velma" Shaggy said as he and Velma walked over to a nearby tree.

Once the young couple was standing in the front of a large Fir tree in Oak Haven Park, the intelligent young adult decided to inquire as to what was on her companion's mind.

"OK Shaggy, what did you want to talk to me about?" Velma asked.

"I don't really know how to say this or explain this but, boy this is tough" Shaggy said nervously.

"Shaggy, whatever you need to say I'm sure you can tell me about it" Velma replied with a wink.

"OK, it's about Ben Ravencroft" Shaggy responded.

"Well, what about him, he, the ghost and the spell book were all destroyed so we have nothing to worry about" Velma replied.

"I know, I know; it's not that it's just..." Shaggy said as he tried to explain to Velma.

"Just what?" Velma asked.

"Well, after we met him and after we split up, you went with him and not with Scooby and me" Shaggy explained.

"So, what's wrong with that?" Velma asked.

"Well, you almost always go with Scooby and me when we split up; and another thing, you seemed like you really liked him, almost like a boyfriend" Shaggy responded.

"What? Shaggy, what would ever give you that idea?" Velma asked, somewhat surprised as his comment.

"Well it's just that well you really seemed attracted to him" Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy, you know that you're my boyfriend no matter what and no one could ever come between the two of us" responded Velma.

"I know, I know it's just that, well after Ben revealed that he was a Warlock I honestly thought that because he was a Warlock and a writer you would, well run off with him and leave me" Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy!" Velma responded scolding him.

"What?" Shaggy asked.

"How could you ever think that I would want Ben Ravencroft to ever be my boyfriend, he was a complete and utter lunatic and wanted to use his magical powers to take over the world and destroy us; you only use your magical powers for good and to help solve the mysteries that we encounter and to defeat the villains that we face" Velma replied with an almost shocking tone in her voice.

"I know, I know; I just want to ask you now, once and for all do you still love me?" asked Shaggy with a hopeful tone in his voice.

"Of course I do Shaggy, you're a wonderful guy and nothing will ever change that" Velma replied as she looked into Shaggy's eyes.

"You're a wonderful girl as well Velma and I love you too" Shaggy said as the two of them kissed, while Scooby Doo watched them kiss and smiled.

While Shaggy and Velma were discussing their relationship, several hundred feet away Daphne and Fred sat on a wooden bench in the city park and were discussing their own relationship.

"Freddie?" Daphne asked, looking into the blond teenager's eyes.

"Yes Daphne?" Fred asked.

"When you said that you loved me before we went off to investigate the mayor, did you really mean it?" Daphne replied.

"I certainly did; Daph, you're the most beautiful girl in the world in my eyes and there's absolutely nothing that will change my mind about it ever" Fred remarked.

"Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Yes Daphne?" Fred responded.

"I meant it too, I think you're most handsome guy in the world in my eyes, and nothing will ever change that" Daphne replied.

"Thanks Daphne; you know, I have to admit, this is pretty romantic isn't it?" Fred asked.

"Sitting on a bench under the moonlight in a park in New England, surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in the world? I agree Freddie, this is pretty romantic" Daphne replied.

"You know, I can think of something else romantic" Fred remarked.

"What's that Freddie?" Daphne inquired.

"The fact that we have two couples in our group, take a look over there" Fred said, while pointing over to the cowardly warlock and the intelligent young woman.

"Isn't that sweet, Shaggy and Velma really are looking like they truly love each other; and Shaggy did a great job with his magic" Daphne replied.

"I'll say, that's really going to be a great thing to use when we have a mystery" Fred remarked.

"Just as long as we don't abuse his powers Freddie" Daphne replied.

"Don't worry, I won't" Fred remarked, as he and Daphne held each other closely; after getting bored watching Shaggy and Velma, Scooby made his way over to Fred and Daphne, who were snuggling as well.

Watching his four best friends in the world made him quite happy to be a canine, and quite happy to be the pet of Mystery Inc., after all: what other Great Dane would be able to say that he could travel around the world and solve mysteries? None other then one Scoobert Scooby Doo of course and quite frankly he wouldn't change a thing if he tried, as he walked over to Shaggy and Velma, he decided to sit at the young warlock's feet, stretched and yawned as he watched his friends.

Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo had become best of friends since they had met many years ago, and now Shaggy and Velma were more then friends, they were in love, same with Fred and Daphne, they had started as friends and had fallen in love.

The gang's adventure in Oak Haven would be something that they would never forget as long as they lived, they had met three Wiccan musicians named the Hex Girls, they had met an evil warlock and defeated him, they had encountered a ghostly witch and defeated her, they had made many friends as well and Shaggy had used his magic to defeat a villain for the first time ever, all in all it was a pretty good mystery and as the gang sat in the Oak Haven park they thought about what mysteries and what adventures would await them in the future, what would happen in their relationships and what villains Shaggy would have to use his magic against in the future, but whatever happened as far as all of those things went, one thing was for sure: Scooby Doo and his fellow sleuths were going to be friends to the end, no matter what.

Author's Notes: Phew, done; told you I would finish this, and now that I have I will continue to write and I have many story ideas for the future to post at Fan , keep checking out my account here, I guarantee you will not be disappointed; also sorry if Chapter 10 seems a bit flat, I kind of ran low on what to write, hopefully everybody still likes it anyway.


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